Professional Documents
Culture Documents
JAPAN
IN NATURE AND ART
MODERN PEKINGESE DOG. SHEN CHEN-I.IN.
DOGS OF CHINA & JAPAN
IN NATURE AND ART
BY
V. W. F. COLLIER
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Printed in Great Britain.
PREFACE
and Japan,
their people and their customs, have
lured the foreigner in his thousands to the making of
CHINA
many books. No
writer, however, has thought fit to
devote much study to their canine race, though in the Far
East, just as in Europe, the dog has been for ages man's chief
help and protector :
mongrel.
It is not claimed for the
following pages, whose original
design included only the smaller races of Eastern dogs, that
they enumerate all the existing breeds, or that they deal con-
clusively with any one of them. China alone is a vast country
in which geographical difficulties render
comprehensive study
difficult. hoped, nevertheless, that there has been laid a
It is
4942^2
PREFACE
The assistance received from Chinese and Japanese litera-
ture has been but slight, for though from the earliest days
Eastern Emperors and their subjects have recognized the
qualities of the dog-
in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,*
contempt.
Absence of European and training of the
specialization
breeds has deprived the Chinese and Japanese of enjoyment of
those particular canine qualities which have for centuries given
much of the zest of life to the sportsman in Europe and, more-
over, provide no small interest to the soldier, fowler, trainer,
shepherd, and breeder.
From certain State papers it has been possible to show that
from very early periods the dog has been used extensively by
European and Eastern monarchs as State presents. The
emperors and kings of the past prided themselves on their
success in adapting dogs to the varied uses of the chase, and
this success, which fell in no small measure to British trainers,
was utilized on many occasions for the promoting of friendly
intercourse with foreign countries.
The culture of Japan, including much of its religion and
art, has its origin in China. The scantiness of literature
IX
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES.
Geological history of the dog in Europe. Its domestication. Ancient records
of tribute dogs. Dog-worship by ancient Egyptians and Aryans. Attitude of
Confucius toward dogs. Use of dogs by Chinese and Japanese Emperors for
sporting purposes, also as pets. Pp. 1-19
CHAPTER II.
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION.
Use of dogs for culinary purposes in China, Corea, Indonesia, America and
Europe. Dog-sacrifices. Former reverence for dogs in Japan. The God Erh
Lang protector of dogs. His temple in Peking. The Heavenly Barking Dog
which eats the sun and moon in eclipses. Dogs in Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism
and Fengshui. Pp. 20-43
CHAPTER III.
DOG-BREEDING.
Its political importance in China and in Europe in mediaeval times. The
dogs of Kublai Khan. Cats of the Ming period. Lap-dogs and pigeons of Tao
Kuang period. Imperial dog-books. Dogs of the late Empress Dowager. Com-
mercial breeding of dogs in Manchuria and Mongolia. Pp. 44-55
CHAPTER IV.
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS.
Ancient Chinese sporting dogs. The mastiff in ancient China and mediaeval
Europe. Falconry. Its origin and practice in Europe, China and Japan. De-
velopment of scent in dogs. Use of the fowling-piece. The chow dog. Chinese
sledge-dogs. The greyhound in China and in Europe. The small greyhound
of Shensi and Kansu. The Chinese wolf-hound. The Tibetan mastiff. Tomb-
dogs. British presents of mastiffs to the East. Records of Tibetan Mastiffs.
Hydrophobia. Pp. 56-89
xi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
SYMBOLISM OF THE BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION.
The lion symbolic of Buddhism's power of subjection over animal passions.
Lion-masques in China and Japan. The Buddhist lion a spirit-beast. Its
connection with Egyptian mythology. Curious superstitions in connection with
it. Its possession of certain characteristics of Buddha. Pp. 112-122
CHAPTER VII.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO DOGS OF PEKINGESE TYPE.
Ancient Chinese small dogs. Early Chinese trade with Europe. Importa-
tion of pet dogs during the T'ang Dynasty. The Lo-Chiang or Pug dog.
References to pet dogs during the Sung, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Relations
with Europe during the latter Dynasties. Pp. 123-142
CHAPTER VIII.
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE.
The imperial pet-dogs not lion-dogs.
first First mention of lion-dog in the
" "
Sung Dynasty. Maltese dogs. Reason for popularity of lion-dogs at the
Manchu Court. Increase of popularity up to the Tao Kuang period. First
recorded importation to Europe. Dogs of the late Empress Dowager.
Pp. 143-154
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
THE CHINESE PUG.
Probable early introduction into Europe. Popularity of pugs in Europe.
Possible origin in Szechuan. The Lo-Chiang dog. Its elasticity of skin. Fore-
" "
head wrinkles. Button ears. Tail. Pp. 166-171
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
TOY DOGS IN CHINESE ART.
Paintings on porcelain. Pictures mostly modern. Shen Chen-lin. Type-
pictures. Paintings mostly conventional. Pictures always full of symbolism
and usually designed to convey wishes of good fortune. Examples of the wishes
conveyed. Pp. 188-195
Xlll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
To fact tat'
MODERN PEKINGESE DOG, SHEN CHEN-LIN. (Frontispiece)
HUNTING SCENE, CH'IEN LUNG PERIOD 46
HUNTING SCENE, CH'IEN LUNG PERIOD 60
HUNTING SCENE, CH'IEN LUNG PERIOD 78
PAINTING FROM A SCROLL OF A HUNDRED PEKINGESE DOGS, TAG KUANG
PERIOD, AFTER Tsou Yi-KwEi, K'ANG Hsi PERIOD 80 & 81
PEKINGESE DOG, FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG BOOK. PAINTER UNKNOWN 146
WHITE PEKINGESE, FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG BOOK. PAINTER UNKNOWN 146
PEKINGESE DOG, BY Tsou Yi-KwEi, VICE-MINISTER OF BOARD OF RITES,
FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG BOOK 156
CHINESE PUG, FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG BooK.^Tsou Yi-KwEi, K'ANG Hsi
PERIOD 156
XVll
TABLE OF DATES
B.C.
" 22
~}chou Dynasty.
""
I Date of Assur-bani-pal (Assyrian) reliefs at Nineveh.
020. |
326. Alexander the Great invaded India after conquering Persia. Greek Art
introduced into North India.
263-)
Asoka, great patron of Buddhism, reigned in India .
632-! During this period Syrian, Christian, Nestorian and Assyrian Myths were
747. / probably incorporated with Buddhism to make up Lamaism.
TENTH CENTURY. There were Five Monarchies having capitals at Kaifengfu,
Loh-yang, Ta Ming (Chi-li), Tai Yuen, Si-Ngan, and Peking at various
periods.
1153. Chinese capital was moved to Peking.
Io28.} MingDynaSty
-
A I
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
cock-fighting and hunting were most practised. Large tracts
of the country were still unreclaimed, deer and wild-boar
abounded. These were driven by beaters into open spaces,
there to be pursued by men on horseback with bows and
arrows. In the fourth century the pastime of hawking was
introduced. It came from Korea, a king of that country
having sent a present of falcons to the Emperor of Japan.*
One theory as to the evolution of domestic dogs is that they
were tamed approximately the same period by several
at
branches of the human race from the local wolf or jackal,
and that to this must be traced the fact that in certain areas
the native dog resembles the local wolf. Modern geological
research, however, indicates that certain races of early man
had no domestic dogs. According to Professor Geikie/f the
dog was not part of the indigenous fauna of Europe in
Palaeolithic times, and was introduced in Neolithic times by
tribes who migrated, probably from Central Asia, into the
It
3
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
that his brain seems to have increased in size, undergoing
much the same experience as that of man himself."*
The position as regards domestication of the dog inChina
"
is well summed up by Bertold Laufer :
f We do not
possess any historical records of any literature regarding the
early domestication of animals, and therefore we should not
expect to find such in China. The
'
six domesticated
'
animals of the Chinese horse, ox, pig, sheep, dog, and fowl
existed in and with the nation when it appeared on the stage
of history. They were there, and later historians could not
4
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
three kinds :
one, diminutive, short-tailed, with erect ears ;
found throughout
China. Very few
specimens, however, BRONZE TAZZA (FROM HSI CH'lNO KU CHIEN)
have been secured, From " Chinese
Pottery of the Han Dynasty.". By Berthold Laufer.
5
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the red dog of the Deccan.* The race is found in many parts
of China. In size and build it is smaller than the common
Chinese grey wolf. Its coloration is almost as varied as that of
the domestic dog. In Yunnan Province as two or many as
three individuals differing in colour have been seen near one
decays into age, while not eating near eating people, and
watching goods none of which it receives. Bring ye unto
him milk and fat with meat ;
this is the right food for the
dog." f
"
Whenever one one must put aside three
eats bread
mouthfuls and give them to the dogs ... for among all
the poor than is none poorer than the dog." J
A further remark by Berthold Laufer deals with the possible
wolf-origin of certain breeds of Chinese dogs :
"
Most interesting in this connexion is a passage in the
'
Tso chuan,' To the Jung and Ti, the wolf is not an object
'
*
Sowerby, Journ. N.C.B.R.A.Soc., vol. xlvii.
j-
Zend Avesta, " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv., p. 158.
\Saddar, 31 Hyde, 35.
;
Given in the " Mao shih ming wu t'u shuo " (Book II, p. 3), under the descrip-
tion of the wolf, where again it is quoted after the book of Hsing Ping (932-1010) :
"
Giles, Biographical Dictionary," p. 296.
6
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
This reminds us of Jaschke's remark, that the Tibetan wolves,
where more numerous as, for instance, in Spiti commit
ravages among sheep, but are otherwise not much dreaded by
man, and, like the wolf in general, they are easily tamed. If
we compare in the above-mentioned book, Mao shih,' etc.,
'
* " "
The Shuo wen (A.D. 100) gives the following names of dogs, and their
definitions :
strength.
" "
f H. Vambe'ry, Die primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes (Leipzig,
1879), pp. 197-98.
7
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
Other evidence pointing to the same fact is found in the
'
8
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
" "
take from the Due South Honan) country
(of square
dogs as tribute. The Chinese monarchs of the period,
perhaps, shared the zoological tastes of the potentates of
Assyria, such as Tiglath-Pileser, who collected all kinds of
beasts for his menageries at a period about 1200 B.C. Dogs,
both large and of small size, are known, from the Egyptian
bas-reliefs, to have existed in even earlier days.*f They
also existed inSouth America. J There is nothing to indicate
" "
whether the Chinese square dogs were large or small.
The Books of Shang mention the sending as tribute of a hound
or hounds, perhaps, according to Chinese commentators quoted
" "
by Legge, bloodhounds, called ao (pronounced as ough
"
in bough), knowing the mind of man and capable of being
" "
employed by the wild tribe of Leu in the West by way of
"
instruction to the young king, King Woo, probably about
1 1 20 B.C.
Commenting on this fact the Chinese classics laid
the foundation upon which Chinese foreign policy was des-
"
tined, for thirty centuries and more, to be based A prince :
9
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
on foreign things as precious, foreigners will come to him ;
worship was not confined to Egypt, for the Greeks adopted it,
and a Roman emperor carried the god Anubis in the feasts of
Isis. Herodotus, speaking of the sanctity in which some
animals were held by the Egyptians, to whom the appearance
"
of the watchful dog-star Sirius, Latrator Anubis," above the
horizon was the signal that their flocks had to be removed
* " Yi Chou Shu."
II
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from Lower Egypt and the coming floods of the Nile, says that
the people of every family in which a dog died shaved them-
selves their expression of mourning adding that this was
the custom of his own time.
Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body against the
evil-doer and watchful over your goods, when he is of sound
mind. If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and
the house-dog, pass by the house of any of my faithful
people, let them never be kept away from it. For no
house
could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but for those two
dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the house dog."
The sacred writer lays down special injunctions for the
breeding of dogs, the care of young dogs, and for the general
"
treatment of the race. If the bones stick in the dog's teeth
or stop in his throat, or if the hot food burn his mouth or his
13
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
twenty thousand frogs, the same number of ants, ten thousand
"
earthworms and horrid flies. The culprit was to godly and
"
piously give to godly men a set of priestly instruments, a
set of war implements, of husbandmen's implements, the
14
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
Reverting to the dog or dogs ao of Leu, whose arrival
caused the enunciation of a foreign policy which has had an
important bearing upon the development of the whole Chinese
race, we find that numerous fanciful pictures of it have been
produced by painters of the Sung (A.D. 960) and Ming (A.D.
1368) dynasties. It is the most famous dog in Chinese history.
The incident was frequently quoted to emphasize the necessity
of study of statecraft upon later emperors, and to discourage
over-affection for the four luxuries in whose possession these
primitive rustic potentates were apt to take the greatest pride
namely, gold, jade, dogs, and horses. So addicted to the
" "
pleasure of the chase were these early sporting emperors,
that all references to it had to be severely banned at the
'
One day in Rome, Caesar, seeing some rich foreigners
nursing and petting young lapdogs and monkeys, inquired
whether in their parts of the world women bore no children ;
15
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
large measure for the poverty of later writings in matters
dealing with the early history of Chinese dogs. Just as King
" "
James' against tobacco-smoking forbade the
Counterblast
writers of that period notably Shakespeare to mention
the weed which flowed in wreaths of smoke thus depriving
us of much of the early history of Raleigh's discovery so
Chin Shih's ban on all things literary has left us in ignorance
of many an incident which would otherwise now stand
chronicled.
Short-mouthed dogs are referred to as having existed in
the time of Confucius.* The Sage mentions the dog in-
cidentally in exhorting his disciples to salvage economy.
He says "I have heard that the discarded hangings of the
:
burial, and that the torn awning (or chariot umbrella) will
serve to cover the dear house-dog in his grave." f
About 500 years B.C. it is recorded that dogs were used in
the kingdom now represented by the Province of Shansi
for sporting purposes. Some of these were probably small
dogs, for it is mentioned that after the day's sport, one kind of
"
dog followed its master's chariot, while those having short
mouths were carried in the carts." J
It was only as late as the Roman occupation that specific
16
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
to the nature of the dogs mentioned. They speak of some of
"
them as being called by the name Pai," which later Chinese
"
authorities explain as very small
referring to
short- a
" * " "
legged and short-headed f type of dog, which belongs
under the table.J The Chinese table of the period was low,
and those round it sat on mats.
From this period onwards,of the Chinese emperors
many
seem to have taken greater interest in small dogs. The
Eastern emperors appear to have been led, partly, perhaps,
through feminine influence, to extremes unsurpassed by the
Merry Monarch himself. It may here be noted that re-
ferences to dogs in Chinese history are often made with the
carpets.*
The book from which this taken proceeds
reference is
"
gravely : This had the effect of likening the high officials
to dogs, and so was a bad practice."
The literati could not forgive this fatuous bestowal of
literary rank upon dogs, however intelligent. They stig-
matize Ling Ti as weak, indolent, and content to leave his
affairs of state to the chief eunuchs.
The Emperor Fei Ti (A.D. 973-977) of the Southern Sung
Dynasty appears to have got into similar bad odour with the
* "
Tung K'ao," by Ma Tuan Lin of the Yuan Dynasty. (Date of book, A.D. 1319.)
18
EASTERN DOGS IN EARLY TIMES
literati, for they record that he was addicted to drunkenness
in temples, and was given
to stealing dogs from his
subjects.*
His nightly prowlings, after the manner of Khalif Haroun-al-
Raschid, in later days led to his death, for, returning to the
palace one night in an inebriated state, he was followed and
murdered by one of his generals.
Yu Pi Tung Ch'ien.
CHAPTER II
"
being meate with them (the Chinese)." f The ordinary
and daily meals are made by the Chinese very early," writes
"
another traveller, for they have an opinion that if they should
fast till noon some misfortune should befall them that day.
They are not curious in their diet, for they eat all manner of
flesh without difference, as well that of a horse as of an ox :
they are great lovers of swine's flesh, which they praise as the
most delicious of any, and is preferred by them before any
* "
Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. iv, p. no.
"
f Purchas his Pilgrimes," vol. xii, p. 109, Maclehose.
20
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
other. But the more ordinary sort of people will feed upon
or
any carrion, either of a horse, mule, ass, dogs, any
*
creatures."
The Spanish priest Navarette, writing
about twenty years
later, reflects the point of view,
in matters canine, of the
brings out all the Dogs in the Town to take their parts, and
attack their mortal enemy's. They also eat Horse-flesh,
Buffalo, Cats,and Mice and other sorts.
;
I myself eat of a
Horse, Dogs, and Mice, and in truth I lik'd them very well." f
The Mongolian tribes living in the Far North of ancient
China ate dogs'-flesh, and as a means of trial by ordeal had a
practice of drinking dogs' blood.
Ysbrants Ides,J a Russian
Ambassador who travelled to China in 1692, remarks in-
"
cidentally, While in Peking I observed, at the door of a
considerable Mandaryn, and a Great Officer, some persons
"
*
John Ogilby's translation of Nieuhoff's Embassy from the East India Com-
pany," 1655, p. 172.
"
f An Account of the Emperor of China," Navarette, p. 65.
"
I Three Years' Travels from Moscow to China," by Ysbrants Ides, 1706, p. 45.
21
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
flaying of a fat Dog ; upon which I asked the Mandaryn,
Wherefore that was done ? Who answered, That it was a
healthful sort of food, especially in Summer, it being very
the accused took a live Dog, laid him on the Ground, and with
a knife stuck him in the Body, just under his left Foot, and
immediately clapped his Mouth to the Wound, and sucked out
the Dog's Blood so long as he could come at it after which ;
he lifted him up, laid him on his shoulders, and clapp'd his
Mouth again to the Wound in order to suck out the remaining
Blood. An excellent drink indeed."
In a work dating from the beginning of the nineteenth
century we read :
"
We will not attempt, in a spirit of false delicacy, to conceal
the fact that the lower class in China is in the habit of eating
the flesh of the dog, the cat, the rat, etc.
"
But that which must be more astonishing is that according
to tradition and the witness of the learned, it appears that the
Chinese actually classed ass and dog-flesh as butcher's meat at
a period in which, as its population was numerically moderate,
means of subsistence could not have been scarce. This was a
difficultywhich, for a considerable period, embarrassed Pere
Cibot, who spared no research in his endeavours to elucidate
the point. At last he discovered in a celebrated work written
for the instruction of the princes of the Imperial Family, that
in ancient days three kinds of dogs were distinguished : the
22
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
watch-dog, the hunting-dog, and the edible dog ;
but
according to the description of this last, this pretended dog
used as food is nothing but the otter, an animal which
European naturalists have also included in the canine
*
species."
Father Cibot's authority is, no doubt, the remark of an early
Chinese commentator dealing with a quotation from the
" "
Book of Rites." He remarks that dogs are of three kinds :
25
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
not far from the ditch of the castle, where we saw a new pro-
clamation put up lately and twenty shuits of silver nail'd to the
post to be given as a reward to any body that would discover
the accomplices of a murder lately committed upon a dog.
Many a poor man hath been severely punish 'd in this country,
under the present Emperor's reign, purely for the sake of
*
dogs."
The Chinese three-character classic, to this day a schoolroom
text-book, continues to instil into the schoolboy mind that the
canine and equine races supply two of the six kinds of flesh
edible by man. To dogs closely resembling the
this day, too,
" "
foreign chow are bred in parts of Quangtung and Quangsi
Provinces for culinary purposes. Black dogs are considered to
" "
be the most nutritious. Flowery dogs those of mixed
colour are reputed to be the most palatable, those of yellow
and white colour following them in culinary value. The
puppies are fattened on rice, and killed at an age of about nine
months. After removing the hair by scalding, the body is cut
into six or eight pieces and boiled for about an hour. It is
26
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
setting forth that the flesh of black dogs and cats can be
served up at a moment's notice. On
the walls of the dining-
rooms are bills of fare. The following is a translation of one :
"
The persons who
frequent such eating-houses are re-
spectable shopkeepers and artisans, and the sum which they
pay for a good dinner is on an average 15 cents., or yd. I
have occasionally seen poor men dining at these restaurants,
but they form a very small proportion of the visitors. At
Peking I found two or three shops in which dog's flesh was
exposed for sale as and Dr. Williams has stated that
food ;
China to-day.
Buddhism, the State religion in most parts of India during
the early centuries of our era, was a form of belief which
separated from the main stock of the Hindu religion based
on the Brahmanical scriptures still professed by seventy per
cent, of the people of India. Hinduism is believed to have
been introduced by India's early Aryan conquerors, who
appear to have considered the dog to be unclean and its flesh
to have been unfit for normal food. Among the earliest of
Hindu legends is that of divine being, founder of the
Manu, a
human race, who was saved from a great flood which destroyed
all other created beings. He was the inventor of sacrificial
rites, the author and first teacher of legal maxims. He taught
"
that a Brahmana must never eat food given by intoxicated,
angry, or sick men, nor that in which hair or insects are found,
nor that which has been touched intentionally with the foot
. .nor that which has been pecked at by birds or touched
.
28
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
hare they declared to be eatable ; likewise those domestic
animals that have teeth in one jaw only, excepting camels."
"
If a Brahmana has a strong desire for meat he may make
an animal of clarified butter or one of flour (and eat that)."
In spite of the prohibition of dogs' flesh, food obtained by
"
begging was always pure, and Vamadeva, who well knew
right and wrong, did not sully himself when, tormented by
hunger, he desired to eat the flesh of a dog in order to save
"
his life." Visvamitra, who well knew what is right or
wrong, approached, when he was tormented by hunger, (to
eat) the haunch of a dog, receiving it from the hands of a
Kandala."
The dog was one of the five sacrificial animals of the Chinese,
and similarly dogs were occasionally sacrificed by the Hindus.
"
All the gods are concerned in the horse-sacrifice when he ;
'
says I sprinkle thee for all the gods,' he makes all the gods
take a concern in the horse-sacrifice. But his wicked enemy
seeks to lay hold of him who performs the horse-sacrifice, and
the horse is a thunderbolt ; having killed the four-eyed dog,
'
he, with
'
Undone is the man ! Undone is the dog !
*
plunges it under the horse's feet."
The whimsical solemnity with which Chinese officials have
been apt to lay down high-sounding and heavily-worded rules
and regulations upon the most trivial subjects for the guidance
of those desirous of avoiding the stigma of want of culture,
and for the glory of the letter of the law, is illustrated by a
" "
further quotation from the Book of Rites setting forth the
"
procedure in presentation and acceptance of dogs When :
leading with the left hand is that the right may be ready to
restrain the dog from biting." f If acceptable, the re-
* " Sacred Books of the "
Book of
East," vol. xliv, p. 279. f Rites," vol. i.
29
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
cipient's representative was first to take the leading-rope,
and then to ask the dog's name.
As thisprocedure regulated the gift of house-dogs and
hunting-dogs only, it is implied that gifts of edible dogs are
not to be presented by hand, but must simply be sent to the
kitchen, their points being judged, not by visual examination,
but by the more searching test of the palate.
It may be mentioned, as an interesting trait in the Oriental
31
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of a dog's carcase no bigger than two ribs, thirty stripes were
the penalty for throwing down a bone as large as the top joint
of a man's little finger.
Though the Chinese, unlike the Egyptians, have never
worshipped the dog, and have seldom used it in sacrificial
ceremony,* they have allowed it to enter into religious
ceremonial, and it has secured no mean place among the
legends of the superstitious.
In the Hatamen, one of the main streets of Peking, stands an
Imperial Temple recently reduced to small dimensions.
This temple is the oldest in the city. It is said to date from
the T'ang Dynasty, and is dedicated to the god Erh Lang, the
Chinese St. George, famous for his prowess in the extermina-
tion of dragons. Erh Lang is the protector of dogs, and
'
32
>
f
V
To face p. 3;
'
.-.
. -.':": :
.;. .
^r; }'..: ::..:.*
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
the noisy manner in which, up to recent years, when the sun
or moon stood in danger of eclipse, the people attempted to
dissuade him from his celestial meal.
" '
The Chinese term for an eclipse is still the eating up
of the sun or moon. The
demonstrations which, up to the
inauguration of modern reforms in China, took place at
an eclipse were described by Gray :
"
Five months prior to the eclipse the head of the Li-poo
Board at Pekin, in obedience to the commands of the Em-
peror, forwards a despatch to the chief rulers of each province,
and through him to the chief magistrate of each prefecture
and eachcounty, requesting them at the approaching
eclipse to save the sun. At the time all the mandarins,
attired in black robes, assemble at the official residence
of the chief magistrate. When they have arranged them-
selves before an altar erected in the courtyard of the yamen,
the chief magistrate burns incense on the altar and beats
a drum three times. At this stage all the officials present
fall down before the altar and perform the kow-tow. The
ceremony on the part of the officials having been brought
to a close, a number of underlings continue, until the eclipse
is over, to beat drums and tom-toms with the view of
frightening and thereby preventing the Tien-Kow or
heavenly dogs from devouring the sun. During this din,
priests of the respective sects of Buddha and Tao stand
before the altar and chant appropriate prayers. Upon the
tops of all the dwelling-houses and shops of a Chinese city,
men are also stationed who, by means of drums, tom-toms,
and horns add to the general din. The same ceremonies
take place during an eclipse of the moon. Formerly in
other lands, as in China to-day, an eclipse of the sun or
moon was beheld with terror. To rescue the moon from
the spell of the enchanter, other nations, like the Chinese
c 33
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of the present day, had recourse to the blowing of horns
and the beating of drums and brazen pots and pans. This
ridiculous custom was evidently in full force in the
day
of Juvenal, who alludes to it in a description of a brawling
woman
'
Forbear your drums and trumpets, if you please,
Her voice alone, the labouring moon can ease.' " *
have entirely subverted their virtue and are sunk and lost in
wine. They have been the first to allow the regulations of
heaven to get into disorder, putting far from them their
proper business. On the first day of the last month of autumn
the sun and moon did not meet harmoniously in Fang.
The blind musicians beat their drums, the inferior officers
and common people bustled and ran about. He and Ho, how-
ever, heard nothing and knew nothing. The statutes of the
'
"
time let them be put to death without mercy.' f
This mythical dog is quaintly described in a popular work
"
on the Chinese minor deities. The How Tien Ch'uan, or
Heavenly Barking Dog (belonging to the deity Erh Lang),
when sublimed from the earthly state, became a thin-bodied or
coursing dog, having the size of an elephant, and the likeness
of the strong and fierce owl which eats its parents. Its
head is as brass and its neck as iron. Terrible in battle, its
antagonist, however fierce and powerful, is quickly consumed,
even unto the last of his bones." To this idea of the existence
* " H. Gray, vol.
China," J. i, p. 267, 1878.
"
f Legge's Chinese Classics, Shoo King," Part III, Book IV, chap. ii.
34
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
of a celestial dog may be due the practice, said to be current
in parts of China, of carrying in processions praying for rain
in time of drought, a big dog housed in a palanquin and dressed
like a man.*
It isprobable that this celestial terror is identical in Chinese
mythology with the heavenly dog which has the sinister re-
putation of trying to snatch children from their homes. In
many temples an image of the god Ch'ang Hsien, and
there is
* " "
Dog." Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics."
"
f Fung Chen Pang, Anthology of the Deified."
"
j Social Life of the Chinese," by the Rev. Justus Doolittle.
35
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Dragon Throne into a dual menace that of being smitten
"
with the magic sword and eaten by the Dog that Barks in
the Heavens."
This Chinese mythical dog may be akin to the Aryan hedge-
dog, having a long and thin muzzle, the prickles on whose
back were compared to the rays of the sun piercing the veil of
"
darkness. Whosoever, O Zarathustra shall kill the dog !
with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the
hedge-dog, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills
his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way
over the Kinvad bridge unless he has, while alive, atoned for
his sin by offering up a sacrifice to Sraosha." *
Theidea of the heavenly dog appears to have reached the
Chinese and the Hindus from a common source. From the
"
fifth Brahmana we read (i) He observes the fast thinking
:
bow with three arrows he gives as dakshina for with the bow ;
36
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
became Syama and Sabala, the two heavenly dogs, otherwise
known as the two four-eyed dogs of Yama, stated by Bloom-
field to be the sun and moon.*
37
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
chappel, or small temple, which was consecrated to the
Patron of the Dogs." *
In crediting the dog with some sort of a soul, Buddhism
permits to the dog a closer relationship with man than does
Christianity, which in the matter of salvation gives to the
"
canine race not even the proverbial dog's chance," and,
indeed, claiming to himself a sole exclusive heaven, allows no
closer association than did St. Bernard of Clairvaux when,
38
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
of the owner of a white dog recorded in the Scriptures.
" Buddha entered into the house of one Tu-T'i,
At Stravasti,
who was absent from home. Upon the divan a white dog was
him the truth. This animal is thy dead father. Born a dog,
as punishment for his avarice, he still guards his riches.
Order him to reveal the treasure which he has hidden, even
from thee, his son.' Tu-T'i returned to his home and said
'
to the dog, As thou hast been my father in thy previous
incarnation, all of that which was yours is now mine by
right. Show me thy hidden treasure.' The dog crept
beneath the divan and began scratching the earth. There
Tu-T'i dug and discovered great treasure. Forthwith he
was converted Buddha." *
to
The lamas of Thibet suggest that the miserable pariah-
dogs of their country are the re-incarnation of priests who
have been faithless to their vows. The same idea may underly
the inclusion of a dog, white for ill-luck and mourning, in the
39
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from them measure of their ill-luck. Then
to himself the full
he receives certain presents from the government a white
horse, a white dog, a white bird, with other smaller gifts of
provisions and offerings from the people. Finally, he is
hunted out of the town amidst the yells of the mob, towards
the Samye monastery, where he may (if he survives his
treatment at the hands of the people) be accommodated in the
Lhakang, or dead house."*
Certain animals, such as foxes and dogs, are considered
by Buddhists to be able to appear in human shape and to play
the part of the were-wolf, or incubus, of mediaeval legend.
Consequently, it is not surprising to find in Chinese and
"
Japanesejust as in European legend, that the devil appears
in the horrible shape of some black dog or other frightful
hairy fraybuggs," and that the black dog which sits upon the
back of the sulky, Faust's black poodle, the Gabriel Hounds
which hunt along the tree-tops on dark and stormy nights,
"
and Sir Walter Scott's Mauthe dog a large black spaniel
"
with curled shaggy hair have analogies in Chinese super-
stition,often as intergrowths with the old Chinese empirical
system of natural science called Feng Shui, used by Chinese
astrologers and diviner fortune-tellers to the present time.
They classify all beasts of astrological importance as subject to
the yang (male) influence of the sun this category includes
the dog or the ying (female) influence of the moon com-
4
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
was young, and to every kind of animal a duty was
to each
many Chinese still roam in the dark mazes through which the
mediaeval astrologers, soothsayers, and diviners led our
bewildered ancestors. A dog which is completely black is
believed to be able to frighten away spirits, and to this day a
Chinese witch-doctor who
wishes to expel a particularly
malignant devil will ruthlessly slay a black dog in which not
one white hair is found, gather its innocent blood into a bowl,
and sprinkle this gore before the spirit with a wooden sword,
accompanying the ceremonial with mumbled prayers, charms,
and spells to support the sacrifice and exorcise the fiend to
eternal perdition. Not in China only has the dog been made
"
to suffer for utilitarian mankind. To tame a lion, they used
" "
to beat a little dogge before him." What, man says !
its tail from its body with a sharp blow, the wretched animal,
"
The influences J of the Five Elements attack and impair
each other, and bloodthirsty animals conquer and overpower
each other ;
how are these phenomena to be explained ? The
ways, with white, black, and red stripes. They are active in seizing boars, wild oxen
and asses, bears, stags, roebucks, and other beasts that are objects of the sport. It
is an admirable sight, when the lion is let loose, in pursuit of the animal, to observe
the savage eagerness and speed in which he overtakes it. His Majesty has them con-
veyed for purpose in cages placed upon cars
this and along with them is confined a
;
"
littledog, with which they become familiarized." Marsden Travels of Marco
Polo," 1818, p. 338.
* Notes arid
Queries, 2nd Series, xii., p. 510.
f "China," J. H. Gray, vol. i., p. 336, Macmillan, 1878.
" "
j Groot, The Religious Systems of China," vol. iii., p. 988, from Discussions
and Criticism from the Chinese Lun Heng of the Han Dynasty," chap. iii.
' '
42
DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION
answer The branch Yin
is :
corresponds to the element wood,
whose animal is tiger Hsu ; appertains to earth, whose animal
is the dog Ch'en and Wei likewise appertain to earth, and
;
their animals are the cow and goat. Now as wood overpowers
earth, follows that the tiger subdues dogs, cows, and goats.
it
43
CHAPTER III
DOG-BREEDING
44
DOG-BREEDING
(cagnolo), and would do his best to obtain one. In 1540
Lady Lisle wrote to Madame du Bours in reply to a request
"
for poodles for the crossbow or hackbut, I will send
Queen did not act thus with the French Lords, to whom she
gave gifts more than splendid, viz. To Mons. Montmorency :
45
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
baiting, which sport a tethered bull with blunted or
in
46
I
bo
a
3
z o
S
a
t
DOG-BREEDING
lyned through with black coniskinns made sweete ;
to his
sonne a fair headpeec and gorgett, a box of all such thinges
as ar belonging to a faulconer, quayle calls, a mastife, a watter
* Anne
spaniell and a faire gray hound." In 1618 Queen
sent six horses and thirty couple of hounds to the King of
France. In 1623 James presented Louis with another pack,
and in 1627 Louis XIII intimated to his sister, Henrietta
Maria Queen of England, that he would expect four hunting
dogs of her.f
In ancient China all treasures, including pearls, jade, or
rare animals, were considered to be Imperial property, and
their producers were bound to offer them in the first instance
to the Emperor, who was accustomed to give generous
47
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
evolved many species which have constant colour charac-
teristics, each with its special highly imaginative Chinese
name, and each favoured by particular fanciers.
Hard times and the overthrow of the Manchus have,
however, done much to extinguish Chinese interest in breed-
ing dogs. Had the Peking breed remained as fashionable as
it was in the early days of the nineteenth
century, it seems
probable that the Chinese would have succeeded in per-
petuating several varieties, each with characteristic markings,
instead of the one race now produced in Europe and America,
which is an amalgamation of the characteristics of several,
bred irrespective of markings. To the Chinese, saturated
with superstition, folk-lore and literary myths, every colour
has a value, and every marking serves to crystallize some
imaginative thought which can convey little to the foreigner
ignorant of Chinese underlying thought.
"
Should a man breed a white dog with tiger markings,"
"
remarks one of the old geomantic books, he shall shortly
become an official entrusted with 10,000 piculs (roughly
600 of
tons) from the Government." *
rice,
"
The ancient Book of the Five Elements," rather more
exacting in its requirements, proves that dogs of various
colours existed in early times in China, as in Assyria f :
"
Should a man breed :
"
A
black dog with white ears, he shall become rich and
noble.
"
A
white dog with a yellow head, his family will become
prosperous.
"A yellow dog with white tail, his family shall have
officials in it in every generation.
* " Ke Chih "
Ching Yuan (Clear spring of ancient knowledge).
"
f The Assyrians and Babylonians were acquainted with dogs of various colours,
for they derived omens from piebald dogs, yellow dogs, black dogs, white dogs and
"
the rest." Mesopotamian Archaeology," by Percy S. P. Handcock, Macmillan, 1912
p. 19.
48
CHINESE DOG-BREEDER, LUNG FU SSU MARKET, PEKING
To face p. 48
DOG-BREEDING
"
Ablack dog with white fore-legs, many male children
will be born to the family.
"
A
yellow dog with white fore-legs, he will have good luck.
"
The breeding of a white dog with a black head is lucky,
and will bring a man riches.
"A white dog with a black tail will cause the family
*
through all generations to ride in chariots."
With these old superstitious beliefs may be compared the
ancient Parsee rite for expulsion of the corpse-drug from the
dead by means of a dog having two spots above the eyes or
"
of a white dog having yellow ears. As soon as this dog
has looked at the dead," remarks the ritual, " the Drug flees
back to hell in the shape of a fly.f
Numerous historians refer to the carebestowed by the
Emperors of the Tang and Sung Dynasties upon their dogs.
These Emperors, unlike the English kings, who when resident
at Greenwich kept their sporting kennels at the Isle of Dogs,
appear to have bred their dogs in the palace, and even in the
Imperial ancestral temple. Under the Emperor Wan Li
(1563-1620) this was prohibited, and one of the eunuchs,
guilty of keeping a small dog in this temple, escaped severe
"
punishment only on payment of a substantial squeeze."
In Europe remarkable freedom was allowed to dog-owners
"
by the mediaeval Church. The office of dog-whipper,"
whose holder's duty was to keep the congregation's dogs in
order while in church during services, was held in numerous
churches in England, and in some persisted beyond the
middle of the nineteenth century. On the Continent, too, it
was customary to allow dogs to enter sacred buildings with
"
their masters. At Avignon the dogs made love or war, and
barked in the churches at pleasure." J
* In ancient China
only members of families in which there were officials were
allowed to ride in carts.
"
t Sacred Books of the East," Zend Avesta, vol. iv, p. Ixxxvii.
j Notes and Queries, p. 343, October 1897.
D 49
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The Chinese Emperors used their expeditions into the
who keep the dogs and wild beasts and fowls, there be
XV tumans of leeches to take charge of the royal Person
;
50
DOG-BREEDING
the Lord rides a-fowling across the plains you will see this
big hunt come tearing up, one pack after a bird, and another
pack with a stag or some other beast, as it may hap, and
running the game down, now on this side and now on that,
so that it is really a most delightful sport and spectacle." *
The Ming Emperors devoted too much of their time to the
breeding of cats. One of the eunuchs registered a protest
against the practice, complaining that the cats were so noisy
that the Imperial children were caused to sicken and die. He
remarks that the cats should have been confined to special
quarters, and suggests that the Emperors encouraged their
sons to interest themselves in the breeding of cats and pigeons
because, surrounded by eunuchs and women, they might fail
to realize the importance of rearing children.
Critics ofChinese success in dog-breeding may point to
the absence of high development of powers of scent in
Chinese dogs. It must be remembered, however, that the
British pointer dog of modern times, produced since
is a
by sale.
"
On
the Skull of the Chinese Pug-nosed Spaniel or Lap-dog," by Dr. J. E.
Gray, F.R.S., Proc. Zool. Soc., 1867, p. 40.
"
f Alexander Hosie, Manchuria," p. 205.
54
DOG-BREEDING
are thousands of small dog-farms scattered over the northern
districts of Manchuria and Mongolia, where from ten to
hundreds of animals are reared yearly. When a girl is
married she receives perhaps six dogs as her dowry, and it
can easily be understood that this comparatively small be-
ginning may be the foundation of a large fortune, seeing that
reproduction of ten per annum would in a few years give an
enormous total. A dog matures in from six to eight months,
and the coat is at its best during the winter, so that the
animal must be destroyed before the thaw sets in. It is
doubtful whether the dogs' skins in any other part of the
world are to be compared with those that come from Man-
churia and Mongolia, either in size, length of hair, or
quality." Sir Alexander Hosie remarks that the flesh of the
dog is no doubt used for human food, and that its market
value enters largely into the farm's profit and loss account.
"
The animals are killed, not with the knife, which might
injure the fur, but by strangulation. The skins dried and
frozen find a market in Mukden and other places, where they
are cured before the thaw affects them, and made into mats
and robes."
Many of these skins are exceptionally large and fine, closely
resembling those of the wolf and fox. Large numbers find
their way to the European markets.
55
CHAPTER IV
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
<C
55
o
o
To face p.
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
clumsy body, its long protruding snout, the shape of its head,
and its short, erect tail." The dogs, galloping ventre a terre,
are described by Laufer as greyhounds, but the tail of the
conventional representation is thick, and the body too sturdy
for such a breed, which, moreover, would be a type light
for the hunting of game of such weight as the boar. Laufer
* of these relief-
suggests that the four scenes on the first
bands illustrate consecutive stages of the same chase, thus
describing the story of the same dog pursuing and finally
reaching the same boar in four scenes, which thus become a
"
moving-picture."
The second f Han relief-band illustrates tigers, with well-
defined black stripes, in flying gallop and trotting. A rider
on horseback, shooting with bow and arrow, a galloping hound
in pursuit, and what may be a hare or a deer. Laufer describes
"
this scene as a greyhound hunting a hare characterized un-
mistakably by his long, upright ears and short tail." The so-
called greyhound, however, has a thick neck, sturdy body, and
broad tail.
"
A
third relief-band J also represents a galloping grey-
hound." Another of the same period includes three hounds
'
dogs having short, erect tails, short legs, and of build much
more sturdy than those hitherto shown.
Though not possible to define the exact points of these
it is
57
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the hare with dogs was a pastime current among the ancient
Chinese. The breeds in use were, no doubt, adapted to
some extent to counter the ferocity, strength, speed, and
elusive powers of each quarry respectively in a land which was
.,
n
o
*
!;***
"*' .
. 58
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
rather than for sporting purposes. When shot with it the
such a rate that the whole country swarms with it, and the
Emperor gets as much as he could desire. Beyond the term
59
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
I have mentioned, however, to wit that from March to
October, everybody may take these animals as he list."
Many writers have suggested, basing their opinions upon
translationsfrom Polo's work, that the dogs employed in these
Imperial hunts were of mastiff breed. Some have gone so
far as to suggest that, in consequence, they must have come
from Tibet. It appears likely that the word used by Polo
you could not do him a greater pleasure than send him such
a hound." *
"
This dog, however, has changed in modern times. The
mastiff of Tibet was larger than the old English (whose ears
were formerly often semi-erect), but is smaller than the
modern English mastiff, averaging 27-30 inches at the
shoulder." This evolution modifying the dog's form to
* " Calendar of State
Papers. Henry VIII."
60
60
a
3
B
O
S5 I
W "9
s
l
O
3
4->
O
'a.
M
3
C
O
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
the purpose for which it has been from time to time most
useful has ended in the race becoming fixed by the modern
"
show-system as a guard-dog. The modern mastiff has an
excellent nose but is of little or no use for sporting purposes." *
This type of dog cannot be the same as that which existed in
the sixteenth century.
The Chinese Imperial hunts have been given up for a
century and upkeep of the dogs has long since ceased. It
61
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
have smooth-haired tails only two (on the bas-reliefs of the
;
Hsiao T'ang Shan) are represented with bushy tails, the hair
being drawn in an ornamental and much exaggerated manner
on the lower side of them." *
Turning now to fowling, Laufer is of opinion that Chinese
culture in hawking has been derived from Turkish tribes.
He states that Schrader,f from a study of the history of
falconry in ancient Europe, has demonstrated that Turkistan
must be considered to be the mother-country of falconry,
whence it was carried to the Occident during the first invasions
"
in the Migration of Peoples. The whole method of hawk-
training, as laid down in detail in the Chinese and Japanese
falconers' books, coincides in such a striking manner with the
same practice followed in Europe, and also by the Persians and
Arabs, that it must needs be attributed to a common source of
origin. J To mention only one of many instances the hood, :
62
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
representing two figures of men, one of whom seems to be
carrying a falcon, in a cave near Turfan in Turkistan.*
"
In China, hawks, eagles, and other large birds of prey, are
' '
the Han
dynasty, and soon developed into the favourite sport
and pastime of emperors and noblemen." f
Marco Polo describes the Emperor's method of fowling
"
with falcons and other hawks And let me tell you, when
:
never lose sight of the bird, and if these have need of help
they are ready to render it." J
* "
Expedition nach Turfan," St. Petersburg, 1899.
"
f Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, p. 232.
"
I Marco Polo's Travels," Yule.
63
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
Laufer states further : The oldest
representation of
falconry in China is found on one of the Han bas-reliefs
of the Hsiao t'ang shan.* A man on foot holds a falcon on
his right fist and a greyhound is hunting a stag in front of
;
Robin the King's Majesty's spaniel keeper, was paid 565. gd.
"
for hair cloth to rub the spaniels with and for meat and
* " The W.
Pointer," Arkwright, pp. 6 and 10.
f Spaniel. Murray gives theforms spaynel, spanyel, spayngyel (old French
"
espaignol, espaigneul, Spanish dog "), spaignol. First mentioned 1388. Chaucer,
"
For as a spaynel she wol on hym lepe," 1410. " Master
"
Wife's Prologue," p. 267 :
" "
of Game (M. S. Digby, p. 182) :A goode spaynel shulde not be to rough, but
his tail shulde be rough."
" "
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel." Like a ranging Spaniel
:
that barkes at every bird he sees." Spaynel and spanyell were also used in the
fourteenth century =a Spaniard.
"
J Letters and Papers," 1542 and 1546.
E 65
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
powers of scent for birds is indicated must remain a matter
for conjecture, and the dogs are somewhat roughly drawn.
On the right are two pedestrians carrying bird-nets of the
size now used in taking quail in China. Before them are two
hounds having rather bushy tails, erect ears, and long muzzles,
galloping in pursuit of two hares, identified by their short
tails and long ears. On the left another hunter holds a grey-
hound in leash. Above the hares
depicted a dog, appar-
is
taking the red tassel of the nearer hawk's hood in its beak,
tore off the hood. The large hawks were then released,
and the hare being started, followed it, one on either side,
iM-fii'lMiliWi-'I'llM'il'iiiliiiil'IIW
III
mm\
liffi'ii Hiil'll
ii?
TTi|^
one man leads a dog, two men carry nets for the quail. A
pheasant and a hare are running at full speed, for it repre-
sents a hunt." This, however, must not be taken more
* Vol. "
iv., section Shih So."
f Notes and Queries, 2nd series, v, p. 306 ;
and Edinburgh Review, August 1825,
vol. xliii, p. 457.
68
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
practised than in the North, on account of the idea that birds
exercise good geomantic influence over the country. Notices
are often posted in Southern villages to the effect that neither
birds nor the trees on which they roost are to be destroyed.
In Chinese fowling the faithful chow, or a close relation,
ranks a good second to his master in the operation of capture.
Ever distrustful of strangers, he is the faithful guardian of
his village, wakeful and noisy at night, sleepy and persecuted
during the day. Some claim for him on occasion the qualities
"
of that deadly class of dogs which bite bitterly before they
barcke, for they flye upon a man, without utterance of voyce,
snatch at him, and catch him by the throate, and most cruelly
byte out of fleasche." * He is brave in the defence of
collopes
his home, keen of nose, and untiring in the chase, though
sorely oppressed by the warmness of his heavy coat, necessary
as a protection against the thorns and prickly creepers which
tangle his native thickets. His powers of scent are used to-day
in the capture of birds for the table, just as, in all probability,
before the European bird-dog was invented, they availed the
oriental hunter in the capture of antagonists in the favourite
" "
Chinese sport of quail-fighting. His staunchness at point
may be but slight. Sportsmen, however, who know him will
agree that the chow or the pointer-cross is best fitted to stand
the rigours of the China climate, and that in his native thickets
and tangled clearings he will, by his forceful tactics, behind
such inveterate runners as the strong-sinewed Mongolian
pheasant or the swift-legged francolin of Yunnan, bring birds
to the gun, while the staunchness of the foreign pointer dis-
69
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
evidently chows, from Canton. He says they were " such as
are fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten ;
upright ears and peaked heads, which give them a very fox-
like appearance. Their hind-legs are unusually straight,
without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as to
give them an awkward gait when they they are
trot. When
in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like
those of some hounds, and have a bare place on the outside
from the tipmidway, that does not seem to be matter of acci-
dent but somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet-black, small
and piercing the insides of their lips and mouths of the same
;
colour, and their tongue blue. When taken out into a field
the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt
on the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them,
giving her tongue all the time. These dogs bark much, in
a short, thick manner, like foxes, and have a surly, savage
demeanour, like their ancestors, which are not domesticated
but tied up in sties, where they are fed for the table with
rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These dogs did not
relish flesh when they came to England." *
This is a good description, except for colour, which varies
almost infinitely between jet-black and snowy white, for the
breed as it exists in China to-day. Native hunters insist
that his tongue shall be black.
Similar dogs are used for drawing sledges in Mongolia
and the Ninguta and Sanhsing districts of Northern Man-
"
churia. The Tartar dogs are much valued, and deservedly ;
they harness them to sledges which they draw over the snow
and frozen rivers.
'
We met/ says one of the missionaries,
to whom we owe the map
'
of Tartary, a lady of Ussuri who
* White's " Natural
History of Selborne," vol. ii, p. 77, 1802.
70
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
was returning from Peking. She informed us that she had a
hundred dogs for her sleigh. One goes in front as guide,
those in harness follow without turning aside, halting only
it
71
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The Greyhound, Wolf-hound, and Kansu Greyhound
'
We you to obtain some fine English hackneys
desire
' '
of those called hobby for the use of ourself and the
duchess our consort, as well as
some greyhounds for our hunting,
a laudable exercise in which we
take great delight, and so we have
decided to send you to England
where we understand that each of
these things is very plentiful and of
rare excellence. We are giving you
a thousand gold ducats for the
purpose to buy the best and finest
horses you can find and dogs also.
In order that you may find and
buy them more easily we are
GREYHOUND REPRESENTED ON HAN BAS-
sending with you Rossetto, our
el RELIEF OF WO LIANG IN SHANTUNG
Chavannes ; La Sculpture en Pierre en Chine.
master of horse, and two of our
dog-keepers, who know our tastes and the quality of horses
and dogs that we require."
was unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of
Salvatico
the Duke of Burgundy at Sluys, where he was consigned to the
"
castle and stripped of all his letters and things," but after
diplomatic representations was released. Two months later
"
he wrote from France that he was much perplexed as to
what to do, with English affairs in their existing state," and
"
that he was all ready to
go and also to proceed to Ireland,
whence all the hackney (obico) horses come."
Five years later there was transmitted to King Edward a
73
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
letter from the Duke of Milan to his Ambassador : We
were especially fond of Brebur, whom the King sent, but
whether from change of air or some other accident he fell
sick, and though we gave him every care he died. This has
caused us much grief. We beg His Majesty to send another
dog of the same race, as nothing would give us greater pleasure.
We send the present bearer for no other reason." Sforza,
"
the Duke of Milan, wrote to King Henry in 1487 The :
74
KANSU GREYHOUNDS
The hunting-dogs
are clever in seizing wild animals,
and are kept in great numbers in Mongolia. These are the
' '
Diary of a Journey
" *
to the Capital.'
Nothing is known
of the origin of the Tibetan mastiff.
German writers have assumed that the " ao " dog of the tribes
of Leu was of this breed without, as has been remarked already,
sufficient historical basis. The Tibetan mastiff certainly is
"
a large dog and the Erh Ya," a Chinese dictionary written
many centuries after the importation of the dogs of Leu,
" '
describes the character ao as referring to dogs four
76
H
H
O
0.
E5
H
To face p. 76
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
the most part, has dissolved into a silver iridescence." This
dog is clearly a sturdy chow of a type commonly found in
Yunnan Province. It has prick ears, bushy and well-curled
erect tail, and non-pendulous lips, but large
straight hind legs
eyes and broad head. These tomb-dog figures have evidently
been made in large numbers, usually on the cheap scale
current in modern Chinese funeral offerings and grave fur-
nishings. Strongly characteristic
of these Han guardian-
are in motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds,
and have a bare place on the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem like a
matter of accident, but somewhat singular."
77
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
slaughtered that they might accompany their master's spirit
"
in its journey. All Americans believe in the soul's journey
to another world and some speak of the bridge leading to
78
a
&
a
c
&0
w
o
* U ff
- r s t *f
- -
J I ^
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
found in Japanese tombs. The Nihongi gives details of these
"
burial customs The brother of the Emperor Suinin
:
(29 B.C. to A.D. 70) died and was buried at Musa. All those
who had been in his personal service were gathered together
and were buried alive in an upright position around his barrow.
They did not die for many days, but wept and bewailed
day and night. At length they died and became putrid.
Dogs and crows came together and ate them up." The Em-
peror, who had listened to the lamentations, ordered the
abolition of this custom, and it is said that from the year
A.D. 3 clay figures instead of human beings were buried in or
about the barrows.*
"
A large breed of dogs, so fierce and bold that two of them
"
together will attack a lion (tiger) is mentioned by Marco
79
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
and well trained, which are got in the mountains of the
*
country."
In the Province of Yunnan the musk and barking-deer,
which are small beasts of 40-50 Ibs. in maximum weight,
are hunted with chow dogs of somewhat larger size and
maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war service." The forms
masty, mastie also occur.
80
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
Tibetan mastiff, too, has proved itself difficult to acclimatize
in certain foreign countries, and is unable to bear the heat of
summer in North China. It appears likely that a foreign
mastiff race, possibly Mongol, was originally imported into
Tibet, and at that altitude was developed into a breed of size
and weight suitable for its uses. Research in Tibet itself
can alone furnish sound evidence upon the subject. Whether
the Tibetans have bred a dog as large as possible with a view
to securing some beast analogous to the dog-lion of their
costly to purchase. 1 1
"
Compare in Nain Sing's description of his visit to the Thok Jalung gold mines
|| :
At the door of the tent was tied one of those gigantic black Lhasa dogs, of a breed
which Nain Sing at once recognized by his deep jowl and white chest-mark." " Tibet
the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 241.
F 8l
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
James to theKing died on the voyage except one young
mastiff which was caused to fight with a leopard and killed
it, and also with a bear, which some dogs sent by the King
"
of Persia would not touch, and so disgraced the Persian
"
dogs, whereby the King was exceedingly pleased." Two
or three mastiffs, a couple of Irish greyhounds, and a couple of
well-fed water-spaniels would give him great content."
In 1616 Sir John Roe, the Company's representative at the
Court of the Great Mogul, wrote that of the Company's
presents the dogs only were well liked. The next year the
"
Company's factor wrote, From the Persian Court and army
near the confines of the Turk, twenty-five days from Ispa-
" "
han," that among a list of necessaries desired by the next
"
fleet were a suit of armour, two young and fierce mastiffs,
and, above all, as many little dogs, both smooth and rough-
haired, as can be sent. His women, it seems, do aim at this
commodity." On the next day an additional list of toys
"
required by the Persian monarch was sent Some choice
:
petty thieves, for the herding of their sheep, yaks, and horses
in a country whose climate is arctic in winter, the possession
of a race of exceptionally powerful and shaggy dogs is a
83
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
*
generally of a suspicious and cowardly nature." Bonvalot
"
mentions two splendid black dogs with red paws, enormous
beasts with heads like bears." He also describes the Tibetan
"
hunting-dogs. Now
and again we meet with hunters carry-
ing matchlocks, forks, and lances, with powerful dogs in
leash, long-haired like our shepherds' dogs, and with broad
heads shaped like that of a bear. Many of these dogs are
black, with reddish-brown spots, this latter being generally
the colour of their chests and paws as it is that of the hares to
the south of the higher tablelands.f
It is likelv
p
that travellers have been mistaken to a con-
siderable degree in describing the Tibetan dogs as of
enormous size. They are large and powerful, but the
appearance of vast size is, no doubt, largely due to their
85
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
asteries, including specimens of leopard, wildthe snow
sheep, goat (called Dong), stag, and wild mastiff."
Das mentions that the dog was prized as a most useful
animal by all classes in Tibet. The dogs was
killing of
"
severely punished. If a dog is killed by blows on his hinder
blameless, as it must have been running for its life and being
chastised or pursued. In such instances the compensation
for agood house-dog is 37 rupees, for a dokpyi or mastiff 25
rupees, and for a common dog 12 rupees. If a dog is killed
by blows on its head the offence is considered very light.
In such cases the dog is considered to have been the offender
and to have been killed in self-defence, so that there is no
punishment." Old English law had less sympathy for the
"
dog and his master. If any person have a dog liable to
hurt people and he hath notice thereof and if, after, he doth
any hurt to cattle or otherwise, it is a misdemeanour of the
highest kinds and if he doth bodily hurt to any of His
;
86
SPORTING AND GUARD DOGS
sheep when the wolf rushes in the lofty forest.
upon it . . .
day.
"
Sir Thomas Holdich mentions the savage corpse-eating
"
dogs which infest the purlieus of Lhasa, and says that a
on foot runs no little risk from the number of
solitary wayfarer
savage dogs which prowl around the city wall feeding on offal
and human corpses." f Manning's description of Lhasa is
* " Sacred Books of the East," vol. iv, p. 154.
" "
f Tibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 258. The giving of the
dead to dogs and vultures was a Persian practice, and was perhaps a custom of great
"
antiquity among the Aryans generally." The Rise of Man," by C. R. Conder.
"
According to Strabo the manners of the Bactrians differed in little from those of
the Scythians in their vicinity. The old men, Onesicritus asserted, were abandoned
'
whilst yet living, to the dogs, which were thence called buriers of the dead.' ... In
the present ritual of the Parsis the dog plays a very prominent part. Amongst other
various particulars relating to the animal, it is enjoined that dogs of different colours
should be made to see a dead body on its way to be exposed, either thrice or six or
nine times, that they may drive away the evil spirit, the Daruj Nesosh, who comes
87
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
little more pleasing. There is nothing striking, nothing
pleasing in its
appearance. The
inhabitants are begrimed
with dirt and smut. The avenues are full of dogs, some growl-
ling and gnawing bits of hide which lie about in profusion
and emit a charnel-house smell others limping and looking;
livid ;
others ulcerated ;
others starved and dying and pecked
at by ravens, some dead and preyed upon."
Das deals with the treatment of hydrophobia in Tibet.
His remarks are quoted as an interesting comment on the
superstitious medical practice which is, no doubt, current in
Tibet at the present day, and is only now losing ground in
China where in Yunnan Province a teaspoonful of tin-filings
and a similar quantity of copper-filings mixed daily in a dog's
food are considered as a sovereign protection against rabies
a custom no more irrational than the English use of a hair of
the dog that bit, or the Arab appeal to sympathetic magic in
seeking to cure hydrophobia by use of the head of a dog burnt,
reduced to ashes, and kneaded with vinegar.
"
The poison of a white rabid dog with red, flushed nose
affects at all times ;
that of a red or brown dog is more
dangerous when one bitten at midday, midnight, or sunrise
is ;
scription of the Lamaist lion : The spirit-lion and the lion-dog : Buddhist
lion-stories : Chinese artistic idea of the lion : The lion in heraldry.
history and
attributes of Tibetan, Pekingese and
90
LAMAIST LION (MALE). BRONZE. STONE LAMAIST LION; TIEN AN MEN.
YUNG HO KUNG (LAMA TEMPLE, IMPERIAL PALACE, PEKING
PEKING)," CH'IEN LUNG PERIOD.
Inscription Ta Ching Ch'ien Lung Nien
Tsao." Exact date unknown
91
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
Buddhist and,secondarily,Lamaist,for their sacred represen-
tations, or for lay pictures to the fanciful descriptions such
"
as that of the scholiasts of the Han Annals. The lion
resembles a and is yellow
tiger, it has side-whiskers and
;
the soft hair at the end of its tail is of the size of a grain-
'
measure (tou)." In fact, the Chinese have never had a
correct conception of the lion, nor have their artists ever
drawn a natural sketch of a lion from life, but merely copied
the fanciful conventionalized types of lions introduced into
China from India with Buddhism." *
When the Chinese pilgrim Sung Yun (A.D. 518) saw two
good likenesses." f
Lions continued to be sent to succeeding Chinese Emperors
up to the time of K'ang Hsi. The Portuguese possessed
lions, doubtless for the purposes of propaganda, at Macao.
The following note is recorded as late as the sixteenth
"
century :
Nothing fetched so great a price among the
Chinese as a lion, for this beast does not occur in those
countries. They look upon it with intense admiration, and
give any price for it." J
Old paintings of tribute-bearing embassies to the Chinese
Emperors include lions gambolling with a multicoloured
ball.
Kublai Khan
followed the example of Alexander the Great
in keeping lions in his palace. After State banquets the wild
beasts were paraded as a diversion for the Imperial guests.
"
Then came mummers leading lions which they caused to
salute the lord with a reverence," says Friar Odoric.
* " Chinese
Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, pp. 238-9.
"
f Z. Yule, Marco Polo," third edition, vol. i, p. 399.
"
j Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. ii, p. 298.
92
THE CHINESE LION
There existed in Peking in Kublai Khan's time small dogs
which so resembled lions that a Chinese historian in describing
the Imperial menagerie remarks that the lions are of the
same colour and astonishingly like the golden-coated nimble
dogs which are commonly bred by the people in their homes.*
The following description of a fourteenth-century Imperial
hunt f seems worth quotation, though Marco Polo always
"
mistakes tigers for lions. When the Great Khan (Magnus
Canis) goes a hunting 'tis thus ordered. At some twenty
days' journey from Cambalech (Peking) there is a fine forest
of eight days' journey in compass and in it are such multi-
;
and all the unfortunate wild beasts quiver with terror at the
disturbance. And when they all have been driven together
into that open glade, the Great Khan comes up on three
93
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
hunting lions overcame two bears, one of them weighing
1300 catties, and deposited the skins stretched over wooden
dummies in the Yung Ho Rung (Lama temple), where the
dummies may still be seen. It may be that these hunting
lions were useful rather for the prestige they gave their
masters than for the hunting itself. Rameses II and III
each possessed a tame lion which accompanied them to
battle and attacked the enemy. Budge, however, remarks
that they were probably more valued as symbols of the
Passing now
to the religious aspect of the subject it may
be suggested that the origin of lion-worship goes back to a
time when lions were very plentiful in Northern Africa and
in Asia, and perhaps to a period when man's unequal struggle
with the King of Beasts was habitually decided in favour of
the latter. The lion was worshipped by the Egyptians and
was usually associated with the sun-god. Sacred lions were
kept at places throughout Egypt. By the time of the
many
reign of Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, 700 B.C., lion-
worship was probably in its decline in that country, for lion
hunting had become the favourite sport of the Assyrian
"
kings, and this ruler boasts, Under the auspices of Nineb
(God of War), my patron, I killed 120 lions in my youthful
ardour, in the fulness of my manly might on my own feet ;
94
IRON LIONS BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF CHIAO CHUN, GOD OF COOKERY
PEKING, 1665. K'ANG HSI PERIOD
To lace p. 94
THE CHINESE LION
period at which this veneration gave way to simple curiosity
and the interest of the menagerie owner. In the temples of
the Persian goddess Anahita the lions were so tame that
they caressed visitors to her shrine in the most friendly
manner.
In Greece lions were used by the priests of Cybele for
exorcising devils, as they are used in North Africa to this
day.*
The was associated with Buddhism from a very early
lion
95
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
Buddhist approval of the setting up of curative arrange-
" " "
ments for beasts everywhere in India as far as Ceylon
"
and to the borders of Antiochus the Greek King." *
" "
Chinese representations of the Buddhist true or sacred
lions may be being of two distinct types
classified as the :
96
THE CHINESE LION
the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) the headquarters of the
faith was moved from India, in which its power was fast
giving place to Hinduism, to China, which was then a world-
power, and as such was appealed to by many of the countries
of Central Asia for defence against the rising power of the
Arabs and Mohammed. There is no doubt that representa-
tions of the Buddhist lion, as well as of its living original,
became very common during the T'ang and Sung Dynasties
the golden period of Chinese art though few have come
down to us.
Tibet was conquered by Genghis Khan about A.D. 1206,
and Kublai Khan was thus brought into contact with
Lamaism. He called the Grand Lama to his Court, and,
after consulting the representatives of Christianity and several
other faiths, he ultimately adopted as his State religion
Lamaism, which thus received a mighty accession of
strength.*
The Lama Tibet distinguished between " true
priests of
'
lions the spiritual beasts whose images are found in the
"
Buddhist sacred places and dog-lions," the earthly beasts
known to the menagerie. They teach that the true lion is a
mountain spirit, having powers of instantaneous projection
through space, visible or invisible at will, and
similarly
capable of infinite magnification or reduction of size.
The Lamaist lion was no doubt produced in Tibet before
the seventh century A.D. by the grafting upon Buddhism of
the sun-worship of Egypt, the nature-worship of the races of
the Euphrates Valley, the Christian influence of the Nestorians
and superstitions of numerous cults persisting after the
break-up of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These
Were all subjected, for their visible representation, to Greek
influence, for Greek art was, during the first three centuries
* " L. A. "
Waddell's Lamaism."
G 97
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
of our era at least, an article of exportation,* and artists and
artasters seem to have travelled everywhere in search of
98
PORCELAIN LIONS. MING PERIOD
To face p. 98
THE CHINESE LION
he received a from Soopoon Choomboo, one of the
visit
"
high officials, and remarks, He was accompanied by the
Treasurer our conversation was extremely miscellaneous.
;
object of veneration.
'
Lions are the natives of awarmer region the burning ;
99
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
In sharp opposition to Foism, which favoured simplicity,
the Tibetans have done their utmost to centre upon the
lion, which in Lamaism has become the most picturesque of
its minor retainers, the maximum
of fable and superstition.
The Lamaists appear to have desired to conjure up a visible
symbol of the power of their faith in order to impress its
realism upon a people which, being isolated from the rest of
hangs from the lower lip. There are fringes behind the
fore-arms and heels of the hind legs. The tail is short, with
a bushy tip. The beast is harnessed with a broad and very
To face p. 100
THE CHINESE LION
like beastsincluded in Oriental mythology. Figures of the
kind are invariably in pairs, one of which, the male, has its
right pad set upon a ball of coarse embroidered pattern, while
the left pad of the female rests upon a lion-cub holding the
beak-like claws of the lioness in its mouth. The ethereal
nature of the beasts is shown by flame-like emanations often
103
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
" "
introduced into the lion character to make it clear that a
beast and not a human being was indicated. The composite
nature of the character aptly illustrates the blending of the
identities of the lion with that of the dog in the Chinese
imagination.
In Shantung the natives callthe small lion figures which
guard the roof-corners of all Chinese temples and date from
"
the T'ang period hai pah kou" (sea small dogs). The deer-
"
heads which guard the roof-trees are called chang k'ou
"
shou (long-mouthed beast or beast-heads). The geomantic
idea isthat the dogs, resembling spirit-lions in being the
denizens of the deep, are able to protect buildings against
fire, and that the long-mouthed beasts devouring the wind
are a sure protection against destruction by the powers of
the air.
LION
(LAMA TEMPLE, PEKING)
To face p. 104
THE CHINESE LION
ings, overthrowing walls and bursting in houses. The arhats
took refuge by lifting themselves into the air. Anandha
alone remained with Buddha. The elephants bore down
upon them, head to head. Then Buddha stretched forth one
hand whose fingers changed themselves into five lions which
105
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
hand, whose five fingers became five lions. At the same
time a circle of fire surrounded Buddha, the lions, and the
infuriated beast. The buffalo, terrifiedby the lions and held
captive by the fire, prostrated itself before Buddha, hung its
May 1916 from what is now called the Rung Fu, in old days
the palace of Prince Wu, east of the Imperial City, great
* "
Buddhism," vol. ii, Dr. L. Wieger.
t North China Herald, February 7, 1920.
1 06
THE CHINESE LION
Among the Assyrians the was the sign of the god borne
bull
to battle in the same way as the standards of the Romans,
and, just as the Cross and the Crescent became the emblems
of warring religions in later days, so the lion appears to have
been adopted by the Buddhists, whose faith preaches peace
inquiry.
Use of the lion as a heraldic emblem by the Chinese
appears to have been only slightly developed, but that the
heraldic idea has existed is indicated by the facts that the use
of leonine images before doorways was restricted by law to
Especially these conventionalized lions became still more baroque. The so-called
sardulas (N. India) and yalis (S. India) of the later Indian art are overloaded with
"
shaggy hair and petty curls." A. Grunwedel, Buddhistische Studien," vol. v,
p. 70.
108
\7o IPX? IX
u^M^'^SI 1
RECENT PAINTING OF LIONS (POPULAR TYPE) BY THE FAMOUS PAINTER REN HSUN
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
or of its inhabitant, and that in certain princely
official
break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion who :
" *
shall stir him up ?
* Numbers xxiv.
Ill
CHAPTER VI
SYMBOLISM OF THE BUDDHIST AND
LAMAIST LION
Christian ecclesiastical art the lion is sometimes used
"
to represent the devil, who goes about like a roaring
IN lion," but more frequently symbolizes the Redeemer
himself on account of its royalty, courage, watchfulness,
strength, and alleged mercy to the fallen. At the church
door lions symbolized the watchfulness of God over His
people, noting their going out and their coming in, and
spying out all their ways, watching also for their protection
and to guard the sanctuary.*
The significance of the lion in Buddhism is altogether
"
different. Buddha placed the lions before his temple that
his priests might remember to subject their passions." The
Lamaist idea is that Buddha on entering his temple
has
ordered the two lions which have accompanied him to seat
themselves upon the altar-cloth-covered tables set at the
door, and that by awaiting his return in motionless obedience
they serve as a reminder of the subjection of the passions by
the Holy Creed.
It appears likely that the Tibetans owe the form of their
lion monuments to Greek and much of
travelling artists,
their lion lore to the Egyptians. In Egypt the lion was a
hieroglyphic or sacred character before the Chinese began to
write and long before Tibet or the lion became known to
* " Herr B. Eckl.
Sacristy,"
112
To face p. 1:2
SYMBOLISM BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION.
the ancients of the Far East. Wallis Budge states that the
Egyptians believed that the gates of dawn and evening
through which the Sun-god passed each day were guarded
by lion-gods. In order to keep evil spirits and fleshly foes
from those who dwelt within, they placed statues of the lion to
guard the living at the doors of their palaces, and to guard
the dead at the doors of their tombs.* Other authorities
state that beingpersuaded that the lion slept with his eyes
open, the Egyptians placed the figure of this animal at the
entrance of their temples. f
Another monument common to Buddhism and the religions
of Western Asia is that of a Divine Being riding upon a
lion. The idea of subjection of the King of Beasts to the
might of religion is no doubt common to all such representa-
tions. Cybele, standing on a car drawn by lions, was
worshipped in Phrygia. Atargatis, the great Syrian goddess
of Hierapolis-Bambyce, was portrayed sitting on lions and
"
Buddha released the wild beasts of a certain mountain
from the depredations of the by causing them to read
lion
his Bible. The lion, finding that he no longer hungered for
their flesh and that they lived in no fear of him, discovered
the secret of the miracle from the fox. The lion then asked
Buddha for instruction, and as a result his temperament was
changed to active benevolence. By this means it is proved
that the power of Buddha's Bible in leading to do good is
without limit. The lion crouches before the seat of Buddha
to eternity. Two lions sit before his seat, and eight lions
around it." 'i
* " "
Fung Shen Pang, Popular Book of Superstitions (recent, but universally
known in China.)
f Cha Pu Lao P'an Yuan Bible.
SYMBOLISM BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
This is therefore a Buddhist realization of the pious
thought contained in the Hebrew prophecy of the time when
"
the leopard shall lie down with the kid ;
and the calf and
WBNSHU (MANJUSRI) BUDDHA RIDING UPON A LION, PU-HSIEN UPON AN ELEPHANT, AND
KUAN-YIN MOUNTING A HOU (FUNG SHEN PANG)
"
the young lion and the fatling together," and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox." *
The attributes of the two
Buddhist temples
lions before
" "
are celebrated at religious Lion-masques held from time
to time all over China, Tibet, and in Japan, where, as
remarked by Captain Brinkley, the so-called Dog or Lion of
Fo (Shishi no Kachira) is carried in the Sano procession in
Tokyo. In China a pair of lion-head cardboard masks with
cloth bodies, counterfeiting the temple guardians, are carried
in procession from certain temples. Sometimes they are made
to halt at the temple door and playfully bar ingress to
* Is. xi. 6-7.
"5
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
demons. They are then made to follow a large knitted ball
to some eminence, where they sport with it to the delighted
applause of large audiences.
" " "
These plays are known as Shuah Shih-tzu or Exer-
cizing the Lions." They promoted by the pious for
are
its right paw upon a copy of the Gospel. There are two lion
116
?
To facJ p.
JAPANESE LION MASQUE PLAYERS IN PORCELAIN
To face p. 116
SYMBOLISM BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
gods in the ancient Egyptian ritual. They support the sun
and are attached to the limits of heaven, the extreme bounds
"
of the sun's journeys.* The
ancient Egyptian gods, Shu
with his sister Tefnut," are types of the dual lion. They are
the servants of the sun-god. The one lion is a god of the
Southern heaven and the horizon of the West supporting the
sun as it sinks, the other of the northern heaven and the
horizon of the East pushing forward the sun as it rises." *
It is interesting to note that the lions before Buddhist door-
117
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
with the Chinese lions, but without the attributes introduced
into Such lion-guardians protect the
China by the Lamaists.
entrance to the tomb of Tokugawa lyesasu, who died in
A.D. 1604, at Nikko. These guardians are commonly found
in Japan as in China at the entrances to temples (miya).
Another instance of error in knowledge of Chinese Buddhist
art in Japan is the illustrating and describing of a Chinese
lion as a kylin by Kaempfer, who derived his information
from a well-educated Japanese. The Shinto priests, too,
have lion-images in their temples, though these are clearly
Buddhist.
The throne of the Dalai Lama at Lhasa is supported by
carved lions.* Similarly lions are found at the foot of the
Japanese Imperial throne, serving as supports to the golden
chair upon which the Mikado sits. They sit upright upon
their haunches with straight forelegs. Their mouths are
"
Thibet the Mysterious," by Sir Thomas Holdich, p. 318.
"
f Griffis, Corea the Hermit Nation," p. 53.
118
BUDDHIST LION-MASQUE, PEKING, IQI4
To face p. 118
SYMBOLISM BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
"
Lamaism, for the Scriptures read : When a man wishes to
obtain the milk of lions, he first makes an embroidered ball
of many colours and places this upon their path. Upon
seeing it the lions are attracted. Having played with it for
a long time the ball is soaked with milk. Thus may man
obtain its milk from the ball. Thence comes the saying of
the ancients that man
is the wisest of all living beings.- This
many respects to the Egyptian the sun hauls the full moon
up over the horizon by means of ropes. It is just possible
that such ropes have some mythological connexion in an
periods the two neighbouring beliefs have mutually borrowed many attributes.
It
is possible that the Shinto association of lions with sun-worship may have led to the
"
use of the term sun-dog," current in Japan.
" "
f Book of the Beginnings," G. Massey. \ Scythians and Greeks," Minns.
120
BRONZE INCENSE-BURNER, SUNG PERIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
MINIATURE BRONZE LION AND A COREAN " PURIFY HEART PILL "
(LION'S MILK PILL)
RECENTLY PURCHASED IN PEKING
Tofacep. 120
SYMBOLISM BUDDHIST AND LAMAIST LION
Another link in the evidence connecting the lion with sun-
and fire-worship exists in the belief, current during the
mediaeval period, that the lion was associated with fire and
smoke. Consequently, a very large number of incense-
burners fashioned in the shape of lions can be assigned to this
period. These burners were usually hollow, the smoke being
caused to issue from the lion's jaws.
Among the early mediaeval Christians the lion sometimes
was used to represent Christ Himself. The Buddhists
actually borrowed from the lion and gave to Buddha certain
leonine physical characteristics. Conversely, their spirit-lions
in monuments were endowed with certain remarkable non-
leonine characteristics which were derived from representa-
tions of Buddha himself. Among these may be noted
absence of the outward evidences of sex, domed head, curly
tufts of hair on the head, and a long
tongue.
Among the thirty-two superior marks which distinguished
Buddha from others of the human race were :
121
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the snails crawled over his head. Lamaism suggests that the
lion had five large curls at the
top of its head to simulate the
flags worn in the ancient head-dress
of high military officials.
"
Buddha said Upon the lion's head are five hair-curls.
:
The middle one is a general, and the others like unto his
four flags. The nine hair-curls below are their support."
On referring to Egyptian mythology, we find that the two
lion-gods wore a special feather head-dress. Assyrian models,
not later than the seventh century B.C., show a sheath-like
head-dress which possibly began to be represented as curled
at about the same time that the Buddhists, who originally
tufts and bands of hair were left on the back, along the
flanks, and behind the thighs. The tuft was left at the end
of the tail
*
* " The Book of the Lion," Sir A. Pease.
122
Photo, Zumbrum, Peking
WEN SHU (MANJUSRI) BUDDHA RIDING ON A LION (HUANG ssu, NEAR PEKING)*,
The Huang Ssu was built in 1 647, by the Emperor Shun Chih. (This temple was
recently destroyed by fire) \ '
To luce p. 122
CHAPTER VII
123
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
modern " Pekingese " dog came from Europe. In evidence
of the fact that communication with Europe existed at an
" "
early period it may here be mentioned that the name China
isprobably due to the country's becoming known to the
Graeco-Roman world during the Ts'in Dynasty (255-206 B.C.)
about the time of Ptolemy (247-222 B.C.). A little later silk
was introduced into Rome and Greece by the northern
overland route. This overland caravan route became
thoroughly established during the Han Dynasty, a hundred
years before the Christian era. The profusion of silks which
were worn by the wealthy Romans all came from the looms
of Han in exchange for the products of the West, chiefly
125
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
fierce
dogs to be sent to Constantinople as a present from
the Venetian Government to the Turk. He sent them
in 1609.
"
In 565 A.D. the Emperor gave the name of Ch'ih Hu or
' '
red tiger to a certain Persian dog. He also gave it the
rank and privileges of Chun Chun (closely allied to those of
a duke). The dog was fed with the choicest meat and rice.
It was granted the revenue of a Prefecture. When the
Emperor was mounted the dog rode upon a mat placed in
front of the saddle." *
The
Persian dog referred to must have been small to have
been able to ride on a mat in front of its master's saddle.
The others were very possibly sporting dogs, for it must be
remembered that this monarch's inordinate love of the chase
lost him both his kingdom and his life. It happened in
this way :
"
The Emperor, accompanied by a favourite concubine, left
126
FROM AN IMPERIAL DOG SCROLL
PAINTED BY MIAO SU-CHIUN, INSTRUCTRESS IN PAINTING TO THE LATE EMPRESS
DOWAGER, DATED SEPTEMBER 1 890
NO. i. LI-ERH (PEAR). LONG-COATED HAH-PAH NO. 3. CHIEH-TZU (LUCKY). LO-SZE DOG.
DOG. Length of Body 1 ft. 3 in. Height 6.8 in.
Length of Body, 1 ft. 5 in. Height 8 in. NO. 4. HSIANG-ERH (FRAGRANT). HAH-PAH DOG.
Sent from Thibet as a present to the Emperor. :
Its
temperament is that of a human being
Length of Body 1 ft. 6 in. Height 7.5 in.
NO. 2 SHIH-LIU (POMEGRANATE). LO-SZE DOG. NO 5. TA-TZU (MONGOL). TIGER-HEAD LO-SZE DOG.
Length of Body 1 ft. 5 in. Height 8.5 in. Height of Body ft. 7 in. Height 8 in.
8 9 10
NO. 6. PAO-ERH (PRECIOUS). LO-SZE DOG. NO. 8, HSING-ERH (APRICOT). HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body ft. 4 in. Height 6.5 in. Length of Body 1 ft. 6 in.
'*
Mother cross-bred/
NO. 9. MO-HAI (INKSTAND) LO-SZE DOG.
NO. 7. CH'OU-ERH (SMELL) HAH-PAH DOG. NO. 10. P'lNG-ERH (BOTTLE) HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body > ft. 7 in. Height 6.7 in. Length of Body 1 ft. 8.5 in. Height 8.5 in.
11 12
NO. ii. T'AO-ERH (PEACH). STRIPED LO-SZE DOG. NO. 13. Y(J-TING (JADE BUTTON). HAH-PAH DOG.
Length of Body ( ft. 6 in. Height 7.9 in. Length of body 1 ft. 5 in. Heicht 8 in.
Come from Heilingkiang.
To face p. 126
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
night, to storm it. His soldiers
tunnelled beneath the walls
of the city and a part of it fell to the ground, leaving a great
breach easy to be stormed. The Imperial officers urged a
general assault, but the Emperor ordered
them to wait for
the arrival of his favourite. The preparation of her toilet,
however, caused such delay that the defenders were enabled
to barricade the breach with beams. A few days later the
"
The Emperor of the Turkoman country visited the
Honan Emperor in 609 and accompanied the Emperor Yang
Ti on an expedition to Korea. He married a Chinese princess
on his return. His successor sent an envoy with two dogs,
one male and one female, to the Emperor Kou Tzu (6 18-629).
Their height was about 6 tsun (inches), and their length i ch'ih
(foot) and a little .f These dogs were of great intelligence.
They could lead horses by the reins, and each was trained to
light its master's path at night by carrying a torch
in its mouth.
These dogs were born in the Fu Lin country." t
* Yu P'i T'ung Chien.
f This was probably the Chinese builder's scale. On this scale one Chinese foot
of 10 Chinese inches is equal to \z\ British inches. These dogs were therefore
j\ inches high and \-i\ inches long.
J T'ung K'ao, by Ma Tuan Lin (lived about A.D. 960, in Sung Dynasty), and
T'ung Tien by Tu Yo.
127
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The name Fu Lin, also read Fo Lin, may or may not be
the Chinese transliteration of ? rnv vo\iv t
said to be the
origin of the name Stambul, but these dogs certainly came
from the West, and there is little doubt that Byzantium, now
Constantinople, the Eastern capital of the Roman Empire,
was designated by the word.*
The last distinct record of a communication from the
Byzantine Empire is found in
A.D. 1371 under the Emperor
* " "
Cathay and the Way Thither," Yule, vol. i, p. 44 and Bushell,
;
Chinese Art,"
P-73-
128
;.-. * >
. >
To SUM f. 128
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
carried on for a long period over a land route, through
deserts and over mountains, requiring a journey of two years
dog upon the board, so that the pieces were upset and the
game ruined, to the great delight of the Emperor. This dog
" "
was white * in colour, and was named (pronounced Wo
Waugh). It came from the K'ang country, one of the nine
kingdoms founded by the Emperor Wen in the Pamirs. f
Possibly the famous poet Yuan Wei Ch'ih of this period
was referring to this dog when he wrote the couplet quoted
in K'ang Hsi's dictionary :
"
(1) A dog with short legs. Quotation from the Shuo Wen." Han Dynasty. About
A.D. 150.
"
(2) A dog with a short head. Quotation from the Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty.
About A.D. 1000. This authority states that the above character was also pro-
nounced " p'ai " pronounced pie in English.
"
(3) An under-table dog. Kwang Yun," Sung Dynasty. A.D. 1000. This
" " " "
authority also states that bai refers to a short-headed dog.
High tables have been used in China for about 1000 years only. This quotation
makes reference to small tables similar to those whose use survives in Japan to the
" "
present day, so that the writers may be taken to mean that bai refers to a race of
"
small dogs which were generally short-legged as well as short-headed."
It will therefore be noted that the character referred to a short-legged dog from, at
130
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
"
nounced bai ") dog, which became commonly known as
" "
the Lo-Chiang dog, is mentioned in Chinese literature is
that on which the Hsin Lo State of Korea sent as tribute to
"
Japan in A.D. 732, one parrot, one thrush, one Ssuchuan
'
Dynasty.
"
In the reign of Hsi Tsoong (874-889) of the T'ang
Dynasty, a member of the Council of State named Wang
" "
To owned a very short-legged (p'ei-chiao) dog named
Hua-ya (flowery duck). One night an assassin broke into
hishouse through the roof, but, being discovered by the dog,
was frustrated." f
This reference marks the break-up of the T'ang Dynasty,
latest, A.D. 150; from about A.D. 1000, at latest, it
certainly referred to "short-
" " small dogs which
headed," short-legged," under-table," may have been of
different breeds.
The commonest generic name found in Chinese writings is " the dogs of Fu Lin."
It appears certain, however, that though this name persisted as a classical term used
by scholars up to the beginning of the Manchu Dynasty, it has long ceased to be the
common spoken name. The name may even have been purely literary, and never
used outside the writings of the scholars. Chinese who are interested in pet dogs
now always use the term " ba-erh " dog, and less commonly " hah-bah " dog as the
generic term. When using the colloquial term Chinese writers appear to have
endeavoured rather to represent the sounds for the common names in use, than to
establish a fixed generic character.
" "
It seems probable that the old bai-rh survives in the present word " bah-rh."
It may be noted here that generic names are usually monosyllabic
among the Chinese,
and would naturally tend to remain so. Any lengthening of the name would be likely
to have a descriptive or qualificative meaning. The Chinese written character repre-
senting the sound would very naturally vary because the Chinese have never given
to the canine race the importance with which it is regarded by the European. Con-
"
sequently the references in Chinese literature to the "bah-rh dog(which was written
the scholars " Fu-Lin were so rare that a writer would invent a
by dog ") probably
character for the latter name.
* " Hsu
Jih-pen Chi."
" Yuan Chien Lei Han."
f
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the second in Chinese history of the five periods of peace
which allowed literature and art to flourish. For half a
century the country was torn by internal strife, which resulted
in the establishment of five successive dynasties, each lasting
for not more than ten years, and each ready, if occasion
offered, to change its capital city from Hsianfu, the T'ang
metropolis. In 969 these warring dynasties gave place to
the great Sung Dynasty, which, for nearly two hundred
years, ruled in peace in both North and South China,
and still continued to rule for another hundred years, at
its Hangchow capital in South China, while desperately
132
"
SHORT-COATED PEKINGESE." MODERN
134
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
was a civilian named Shen Heng Chi who bred a Chin
'
'
Ssu (lit. golden-silk) dog in his home. This dog was not
more than one foot long, and was very intelligent. When
guests were presented the dog lay beneath the table. After
the dog had been reared for three years the owner fell ill.
The dog in sympathy refused to eat. After a few days the
master died. The dog showed signs of excessive grief when
the corpse was put in the coffin. The coffin was kept in the
home for one year, during which time the dog always lay
beneath it. When the corpse was being removed for burial
the dog beat its head with such violence against the coffin
that it died."
After the overthrow of the degenerate line of Kublai Khan
in 1368, no European penetrated into China for nearly two
hundred years. The cult of the race of pet dogs seems to
have fluctuated with the interest taken in the breed by the
Emperors. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1628), there is
no mention of kennels in the list of Imperial stables, etc., and
it seems
probable that pet dogs were altogether out of fashion.
The Sons of Heaven appear to have interested themselves
specially in cat-breeding, a hobby against which, in England,
there was a prejudice during the Middle Ages, as cats were
associated in the popular imagination with witchery and
other diabolical agencies. Some of the Chinese Emperors
carried their enthusiasm for cats to remarkable excess, for
the eunuch Liu Jou Yii, writing his reminiscences under the
"
last three Mings, puts on record that There are three or
four men, body-servants of the Emperor, whose special
business is the feeding of those cats which have official rank
or are famous. Upon all of these cats the Emperors have
bestowed their affections one above the other. Awaiting the
Emperor's grant of names and official rank ordinary male
'
cats are called pages, while emasculated cats are called old
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
'
father,' the analogue for the female being old maid.' The
pay given to the eunuchs for upkeep of each cat is according
to its rank. So noisy are the cats that all the Emperor's sons
and daughters childhood are continually brought to sick-
at
ness, even unto death and who is there that dares to com-
;
ing of the cats and pigeons there might be brought to his atten-
tion the importance of the rearing of numerous children." *
Dr. Macgowan, arguing from the facts that cats are not
included the six domestic animals recorded by the
among
early Chinese nor among the zodiacal constellations, suggests
that the cat was domesticated at a late period in China.
136
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
another tune to stimulate the cat in its attack upon the
rodent." *
These conflicting statements are from authoritative sources,
and it is impossible to offer a satisfactory explanation,
remarks Macgowan. He holds that the cat was brought to
East Asia from the West. The animal is named but twice
in all the long periods of early Chinese history, and as a
domesticated animal only once. Possibly the cat of Con-
fucian times was a wild cat only partially domesticated.
Cats appear to have continued to be the favourite pets of
the Chinese court ladies to the end of the Ming period, but
soon perhaps gave place to the small breeds of dogs. In
1655, soon after passing Lin-ching on the Grand Canal,
John Nieuhoff wrote :
"
In this Province [about Peking] are white rough cats, not
unlike the Malteeza Dogs, with long ears, which are there
the ladies' joysting hounds or play-fellows they will catch ;
137
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
ismodest and full of gravity, being veiled so that no part is
naked except the face they adorn their heads, especially
:
the more noble sort (and those that live at Court) with divers
wreaths and fillets beset with precious stones, which add a
wonderful splendour. Their vests interwoven with flowers,
birds, and the like ornaments, trail at their feet, but yet so
that what they esteem their chief beauty is not obscured, and
to pass away their time, they sport with little
dogs,* birds,
and such delights."
The
breeding of dogs within the precincts of the Imperial
Ancestral Temple was prohibited. Under the Emperor Wan
Li (1563-1620), in spite of this prohibition, a certain eunuch
named Tu secretly kept a small hai-bah f or hsieh-bah
* The French "
version reads cats.'
f Hai-Bah (or Ai-Bah) Dog. The name " bai " is found lengthened by either of the
" " " " " " "
three characters ai," hai," or hah." Of these ai and hai appear first in
the " " "
which the generic name was hai-pah or ai-pah." The
Ming period, during
" "
character used for ai means " short." That for " hai " in the Ming word " hai-
" " "
pah dog was
either a character meaning sea all lions and
mythical monsters
are even nowconsidered by superstitious Chinese to belong to the sea or one
"
meaning unicorn," an animal often confounded with the Buddhist lion. The
dragon-world underneath the sea is part of primitive Chinese mythology, and the
Chinese spirit-lion was classed as one of the fabled nine dragon children. The lion-
"
unicorn or " hsieh-chai is found embroidered on the robes of censors and
judges, and
"
indicates the fifth grade of official rank. The " hsieh-chai is also found, but
very rarely,
in place of the lions outside a Buddhist
temple. In Shantung the name for the small
faience dogs (the origin of which is anterior to the introduction of Buddhism into
" "
China) which guard the corners of all important roofs against fire, is hai-bah dog
literally "sea small dogs."
The term " hah-bah " dog does not appear previous to the Ching or Manchu
"
Dynasty. The Manchu name for the small dog species is Kha-per-i," pronounced
Laufer
" "
ha-per-i. considers the term hah-pah to be of Turkish origin. It seems
not unlikely that the Manchu influence has brought about the use of a word con-
" "
founding ha-per-i and hai-bah-rh, and modifying each to the name hah-bah-rh
which means, in colloquial Peking dialect, " to limp, to roll in the walk." This word
would, to the uneducated Chinese, have some sort of meaning applicable to the
" "
slightly rolling gait encouraged in the Pekingese breed, while the word hai-bah or
" "
Kha-per-i would convey little, or no meaning whatsoever.
There appears to be little doubt, although there are no written records on the
"
point, that the commonest vernacular name in the Tao Kuang period was bah-rh,"
dog. This appears certain from the testimony of living witnesses and from the
138
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
" " " " "
[lit.
unicorn scratch dog to which
or scramble "]
he was attached. This came to the knowledge of a certain
chief eunuch of the Board of Punishments well-known for
his relentless severity. He threatened to inform the Emperor
of this crime, but was dissuaded by a douceur of something
over 1000 taels in silver.
straight legs. The dog wears a collar with bells, and has a
ring, with a bell attached, throughear.f its
140
PORCELAIN DOGS FROM PEKING. TAO KUANG PFRIOD
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
died 1735
'- , '
, *i
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
To face p 146
HISTORICAL REFERENCES TO PEKINGESE TYPE
names and There was also
qualities of each particular dog.
tied about the neck of each dog a yellow silk cord drawn
141
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
seems probable that it was from the Ch'ien Lung period
It
142
" PAINTED
BY THE IMPERIAL BRUSH OF TZU HSI, EMPRESS DOWAGER,
IN THE NINTH YEAR OF T'UNG CHIH (1870) IN THE LAST TEN DAYS
OF THE THIRD MONTH OF SPRING "
(AUTHOR'S COLLECTION)
This picture bears the Imperial Seal and congratulatory verses by three high
officials of the period
Picture presented to Prince Wei by the late Empress Dowager
To face p. 142
CHAPTER VIII
144
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
"
A.D. 375-405) Turks who live in the towns
remarks that the
do not keep domestic dogs, and the dogs have no special
masters, except the very little tiny Maltese and Polonian
ones, which are much prized and which the women of good
* Dr. Caius "
family rear for pleasure." f wrote There are :
any purposes except that they ease pain of the stomach, being
often applied to it, or frequently borne in the bosom of the
diseased person (easing pain) by their moderate warmth."
Fleming, writing in 1576, added an explanatory note to his
translation of Dr. Cains, and remarked of the Maltese that
they lie with sheepskins, that they may always have them
* "
Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," pp. 266, 269, 272, 25.
A "
f physician to Queen Elizabeth, wrote in 1570. Translated in Toy Dogs."
K
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
before their eyes." * "At Lyons in Gaul they were sold for
ten gold pieces each, and at Bologna for forty pounds."
"
In 1588 Harrison speaks of the Maltese, the smaller they
be and thereto if they have a hole in the fore part of their
heads the better they are accepted." * This appears to be the
" "
first European reference to the stop now characteristic of
all the breeds of Chinese toy-dog.
Pekingese
century, though the Imperial court had taken up residence at
Peking about the middle of the thirteenth century. The
people of Peking have no special distinctive name for the
" "
Pekingese type of dog. This presumably is evidence in
favour of its having always been the predominating type among
the pet-dogs of the city. No paintings on porcelain or porce-
lain models of the Pekingese type, dating from earlier than
the beginning of the nineteenth century, are known to exist.
It has been suggested that the Japanese toy-dog, whose
146
PEKINGESE DOG.
From an Imperial Dog Book. Painter unknown.
WHITE PEKINGESE.
From an Imperial Dog Book. Painter unknown.
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
""
the nature of the Pekingese breed of that period. This
argument, however, must not be given undue weight, for
there has been much communication between the Chinese
and Japanese courts at subsequent periods.
pos- It is quite
47
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
foreigners. Jesuit priests were resident at the Court in Peking,
and Kircher, writing in the first days of the Dynasty, remarks
"
that the noble ladies to pass away their time sport with little
According Manchu
to Chinese authorities they originated the
148
'*
NINE BUDDHIST LIONS.
May nine generations live together in peace." Lions and
embroidered balls
*
cm?
To face p. 148
EVOLUTION OF THE PEKINGESE TYPE
kept numerous dogs for the pursuit of deer, tiger, and bear
in their parks, and even used hunting-lions. It is, therefore,
not surprising that the court ladies took special interest in
pet-dogs a race which is considered by the Chinese of Peking
to be specially associated with the Manchus. In the north
Manchurian home of the dynasty breeds of toy-dog still
exist. .
,
Hsi, suggests that it was during early Manchu days that the
"golden-coated nimble-dog" of Peking became modified by
a combination of the characteristics of the breeds existing in
period. The Chinese will explain that the Manchu nobles and
ladies neverhad greater surplus of rents and " face-powder "
" "
money to send to the Old Home in Manchuria than during
the Tao Kuang period, and it was possibly then that the
;<
sleeve-dogs exists atAigun Hai-Lung-Kiang, and in all the vicinity. I have a friend
in
who is a native of I-Lan, where, he says, sleeve-dogs are very plentiful. They are
very small and extremely intelligent. They can take things with their mouths as
men do with their hands. They know how to sit, beg, roll and to do other tricks.
Owing to their small size and weakness, they are always defeated by cats, when caused
to fight with them.
"
Most of the rich persons, managers of shops, or those of such inclination keep
these dogs. During the period when big sleeves were fashionable, these dogs were
'
kept in the sleeves and were called sleeve-dogs.' At the present time, however,
" "
they are called Pen-Lo (lump forehead) Pa-Erh,' or the Shih-tsu Pa-Erh ' (lion
' '
'
149
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
were imported into Peking. After nearly a century of
peace and prosperity, the inhabitants of the capital had become
rich, food stood at less than a quarter of its present prices, and
the cost of living was extraordinarily low. It was possibly
at this period, if not at the time of Lord Macartney's visit to
Ch'ien Lung in 1795, that England first heard of Chinese
"
sleeve-dogs," and of the curious custom connected with
their name a name, by the way, which is now unknown to
"
The following are average measurements of this kind of dog :
The forehead is high mouth very short bridge of the nose pressed
; ;
inward ; tip of the nose upwards panther eye ear like the
tilted ; ;
153
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
It was proved on investigation that the cherished treasure
had changed hands at the Lung Fu Ssu dog-cheap indeed
at about sevenpence (thirty cents).
Dogs of good breed still exist in Peking ;
but native interest
in them has dwindled with the diminishing power of their
reaction sets in within the next few years, the present dearth of
154
CHAPTER IX
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
155
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
that the appearance of the nose is as if cut with a knife slicing
downwards on the front plane of the forehead. In this type,
the face should be as rectangular as possible (" Ssu fang
li-erh "), and not long and oval-shaped (" ch'ang hua li-erh ").
The apple-headed ("
p'ing-kuo nao-tai ") type of dog is broad
from the face to the back of the head, has a domed forehead,
the front of the skull protuberant, and the eyes less far apart.
This shape is reminiscent of the King Charles and Blenheim
"
spaniel type rather than that of the English Pekingese."
It seems likely that these points are characteristic of two
distinct varieties which have, in modern times, been crossed
through paucity of really good specimens of either breed.
Among the colours best liked are :
(2) The three-flower face (" san hua li-erh "), which is black
round the eyes, yellow on forehead, and white round
the mouth ;
and
(3) The head black (" wu t'ou ") with the remainder of
the body another colour.
156
PEKINGESE DOG BY TSOU YI-KWEI l
CHINESE PUG.
From an Imperial Dbg Book. Tsou Yi-Kwei, K'ang Hsi period.
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
giving a rounded or somewhat hooked expression, the name
" "
sheep-nose is applied. If very pointed at the tip, with the
side lobes somewhat depressed, the dog is said to be tortoise-
nosed. The nose must, of course, be black-tipped. There is
doubt as to whether this is the case with the tongue, for though
"
the tongue of the Chinese chow-dog must be like as if he
157
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
breeding, but become guard-dogs for the owner's kennel,
which often among the breeders of the palace contains as
many as twenty dogs. The eunuchs also use them to a certain
extent for dog-fighting.
The ears should be placed well behind the middle axis of
the forehead, not too high on the skull, and should be well
feathered (not turned outwards in front), giving the appearance
of a rake (" pah-tzu "), nor yet projecting at the side (" chaio-
tzu," or horn-ear). Other bad points occasionally found in
China are sesamum-seed ear (" chih-ma-erh-t'ou," or prick-
ear), or the ear sharp-pointed and pushed forward.
The mouth and cheeks may be somewhat round and dump-
ling-like, not under-shot as to the lower-jaw (" Ti kai tien,"
"
earth covers the heaven "). The lower jaw and chin should
be well developed, not frog-like (" ha-mah tsui "). There
should not be projection of the upper and lower lips and gums
(" to cherh "). The best mouths, of course, are those. in which
the lower part of the face is in the same plane as the front
of the ear (" tao ch'ieh tsui ").
The Chinese liken the eyes of their best specimens to the
" "
Loong Ching Yii (" dragon-eye fish "), or gold-fish. They
should be very large, lustrous, and prominent, with the iris
broad and of old-gold colour (" bi chi yen-erh," water-chestnut
"
eyes). If showing rather more white they are called leopard
eyes."
Ideal body development next in importance to that of the
head requires a well-defined waist, slightly concave (sycee-
like) back, a short, compact and sturdy body, front legs shorter
than the hind with the object of producing a rolling
legs,
gait, which should, however, be steady and free. This gait
is compared to the movement of the plentifully finned gold-
fish. The fore-legs should be short, not straight and stick-
like (" chih pang t'ui ") ;
the hind legs should not be bent and
158
" CHIN SHIH, TOONG CHU
HO YUN. l820 CHIU CHING."
To face p. 158
* t
/ .
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
hoop-like. The fore-legs should be turned slightly outwards
at the shoulder, and there must be a slight curvature thence
down wlich should turn somewhat outwards,
to the toes,
"
but not enough to produce the serious defect called crab-
toes." The curvature of the fore-legs must not be ex-
Pekingese
" " "
that the name ha-pa is a Manchu word
meaning to
roll inthe walk," referring to the distinctive walk and gambols
" "
of the Pekingese breed.
We might fairly conclude that at certain periods in Chinese
history careful breeding was pursued, and that a tolerably
fixed type was evolved. Some Chinese breeders state that
early in the century specialization had taken
nineteenth
place to such a degree that eight distinct breeds, instead of the
three now
remaining, had been evolved. The occurrence,
during the Tao Kuang period, of porcelains illustrating eight
dogs possibly a play on the name is a confirmation of this
theory. Much of the distinction between some of these
breeds was in length and coloration of the coat and in mark-
the apricot, the liver, and the black. The Chinese apricot
fruit varies from a golden-yellow on the sunless side to a
rich orange red shading into yellow on the sunny side. It is
possible that this colour came into fashion on account of the
famous specimen owned by the Tao Kuang Empress. Among
self-colours this is undoubtedly the most highly prized and :
if it is accompanied a
by golden silky gloss, the Chinese will
make far greater allowance than the European for weakness in
other points. So great has been the appreciation of this
combination, that it has been embodied in a numerical couplet,
Chin Ssu Ha-pah," * which is proverbial and commonly
'
1 60
CLOTH LANTERN COVER. SHEN CHEN-LIN
SILK FAN SIGNED " SHEN LIN," igoi. AFTER THE CHINESE FAN
STYLE OF THE YUAN DYNASTY (1360 A.D.)
To fact p. 160
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
mandarin rank, a couplet which stands for the number one
in the same game.
At one period the Chinese made successful efforts to pro-
" "
duce white Pekingese dogs, free from the white noses
and pink eyes due to albinism. These may date back to the
Mongol Dynasty, for the Yuen Emperors appear not to have
shared the Chinese objection to white in animals through its
association with mourning. Marco Polo records that 100,000
white horses were presented to Kublai Khan on New Year's
Day, and this custom continued at least to the time of K'ang
Hsi.
though the point now rarely occurs. A white blaze upon the
forehead of a horse is believed to be unlucky by the Chinese,
and they quote history to prove this. This point in small
dogs, however, prized and encouraged by selective breeding.
is
" "
standing in the snow (" hsueh li chan "), black coat with four
white paws. But white feet in black dogs remind the Chinese
of the white shoes used only in mourning. A special name is
also given to the specimen having one paw of a colour differing
163
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
from that of the others (" ku ti'erh "). A hind-leg marking
which is appreciated, especially if paired, is that in which the
lower part of the leg is of a distinctive colour with a narrow
ridge of another colour above it, giving an impression of the
Chinese trouser (" t'ao k'u ").
Tiger-stripes on the coat after the manner of a tabby cat
are much appreciated. These, however, and the
" "
prince
character written in wrinkles upon the forehead, are attri-
butes rather of the short-coated or Pug type than of the
'
"
PANEL MARKED THREE DIVIDED FLOWERS " DOG. TAO KUANG PERIOD. AFTER LU PAO
SHUN, PAINTER OF THE MING PERIOD. HSING KE T'U (HSING AND THE PIGEONS)
To face p. 164
POINTS OF THE CHINESE PEKINGESE TYPE
Imperial masters, the rest being bred by eunuchs, who
bought and sold among themselves and occasionally presented
or sold their best specimens to Chinese officials. As an
instance of modification through fashion, it may be mentioned
that during the Tao Kuang period the practice of docking the
dogs' tails, almost invariably carried out during recent years
in the palace, was not always customary. This
practice
appears to have originated under the late Empress Dowager
in the reign of Hsien Feng, after 1815. The
change was
probably made with the object of obtaining greater resem-
blance to the Chinese idea of the lion, which is always a
" "
cur tail beast. The custom of docking is useful as an
indicator of the period of Pekingese pictures.
Another change in fashion was due to the Empress's ob-
jection to the so-called sleeve-dogs freaks whose pro-
duction must often have been the result of much pain.
165
CHAPTER X
THE CHINESE PUG
origin of the
European as well as that of the
The
Prince of Orange being retired into the camp,
Julian Romero, with earnest persuasions, procured licence of
the Duke d'Alva to hasard a camisado or night attack, upon
the Prince. At midnight Julian sallied out of the trenches
with a thousand armed men, mostly pikes, who forced all the
guards that they found in their way into the place of arms
before the Prince's tent, and killed two of his secretaries.
The Prince himself escaped very narrowly, for I have often
heard him say that he thought but for a dog he should have
been taken or slain. The attack was made with such resolu-
tion that the guards took no alarm until their fellows were
running to the place of arms with their enemies at their
heels, when this dog, hearing a great noise, fell to scratching
and crying, and awakened him before any of his men and ;
167
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
The main
points of difference between the European pug,
Blenheim Spaniel, and King Charles Spaniel are the result of
modern specialization, rather than of ancient individuality.
"
It is impossible to distinguish the skull of a Terrier from
1 68
LO-SZE DOG. "SHEN CHEN-LIN. CAREFUL DRAWING'
To face p. i63
THE CHINESE PUG
the same characters are used to designate the old name of
Russia up to the Tao Kuang period. This suggests that the
breed came from Russia. It may be suggested that breeders
who have been able to secure such extraordinary special
" "
characteristics as those of the Pekingese found small
difficulty, especially in a hot climate, in evolving a short-
" " " "
coated race from the short-legged and short-headed
pet dog existing 100 years B.C. It seems likely, on the
opinion of authorities who have studied the question almost
entirelyfrom the European standpoint, that European pugs
are the offspring of Chinese ancestors. Vero Shaw (1881)
"
says : firm opinion that the origin of the present
It is my
Pug Dog is nothing but the common English fawn-coloured,
smooth-coated terrier bitch crossed with a little jet-black
Chinese terrier, have seen some
of which I also they have ;
the short nose and high head, and very curly tails." *
Mr. Watson states that, at the outset, the best English pugs
were of Dutch origin, and that the Willoughby strain came
from St. Petersburg. He says in support of the theory that
"
the pug came originally from China, We have in the pug a
dog which in his peculiarities has no counterpart in any
European dog. The bull-dog has a short face, and was
square-headed, with cropped ears and a straight tail, when the
pug was first known, and had an entirely different tempera-
ment from the pug."
"
All the English pugs of prominence from 1865 to 1895,
also all our best pugs from 1880 to 1900, trace to Click, a
169
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the siege of Peking in 1867 or 1868, and were brought to
however, is known to have existed (" sze kuo chu-erh "), and
the double curl was also known.
"
The most admired and rarest of the breed was the loong
"
chua lo-sze (dragon-claw pug), which was short-coated
except for the ears, the toes, behind the legs, and the chry-
santhemum-flower tail, all of which were very well feathered.
This appears to have been a distinct race which became
extinct about fifty years ago. The pug-dog occurred in any
171
CHAPTER XI
THE "JAPANESE" DOGS
" "
appears no doubt that the Japanese race of
small dogs was introduced from China. Its name in
THERE Japanese is
"
Chin," and the Japanese character
representing this name is composed of roots denoting
" " "
China and dog."
Considerable intercourse had grown up between the
Eastern Chinese of Go and the early Japanese, at least as far
back as the fifth century. The Japanese started making a
serious study of Chinese institutions about A.D. 668.
172
"
THE "JAPANESE DOGS
" "
about the year A.D. 794
It is said that pai dogs became
somewhat dear in price in Japan, because all ladies liked to
possess specimens of the breed.*
"
In the fourth month of the year T'ien Ch'ang of
first
pai
'
dog."
Abrief reference to the history of European intercourse
with Japan will be sufficient to indicate that in all probability
" "
specimens of the Japanese race of dogs reached Europe
in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese
captured Goa in
1510, and thence spread their trade throughout the East.
Trade relations with Japan were started in 1549. The
traders were much
favoured, especially by the princes of the
island of Kyushu, and, fortunate in the possession of Macao,
rich in stocks of European and Indian goods, quickly de-
"
The Dog," Tokyo, April 1915. f Jih-pen Ji Shih.
173
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
"
The merchants married the daughters of the richest in-
habitants. The gold of the country was exchanged against
European and Indian curiosities, medicines, stuffs, and other
things of like nature. Upwards of 300 tuns of the precious
metal were exported every year."
The Dutch established a factory at Firando just previous
to 1600. In 1637, in consequence of a Portuguese plot
against the Emperor, the country was closed by Imperial
decree to all Portuguese intercourse. All Japanese returning
from abroad were put to death. No boat whatever, of any
nature, was to leave Japan, and all Portuguese were banished
to Macao. Meanwhile, the Dutch had been making every
"
effort to forward their trade. No trouble," says Kaempfer,
"
no expenses were spared to please the Emperor upon whom
alone all the good or bad success of their trade depended. The
most exquisite curiosities of nature and art were purchas'd
and brought over for the annual presents. The oddest and
were brought up in the remotest
scarcest animals in particular
174
" "
THE JAPANESE DOGS
honour with the Daimio of Hirado. Captain Saris visited the
court of the Daimio of Hirado in 1614. He does not remark
upon the existence of a race of small dogs, though he does
"
recommend the sending of a mastife, a watter spaniell, and
"
a fine grayhound to the son of the Daimio. In the court
minutes of the Company for 1615 there occurs a passage :
"
Cloths to be provided for Surat, Persia, and Japan also ;
175
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
king of Firando, and which was kept, apparently at the
king's request, in the English factory.
"
April 4, 1617. Thomas
the cook, lefte to attend on Mr.
Totton, being a harebreand felloe, threw a kitchen knyfe at
Balle, the kynges dogg, which we kept in the English howse,
and stuck hym to the hart that he
presently.fell downe dead
He hath beaten
many of our Japon servantes, and had lyke to
have kild one of our neighbors servantes the other day. He
ys not the man I took hym for, and wrot the Worll. Company
in his behalfe more than he deserveth. Yf this had hapned
in the tyme of Foyne Samme, who esteemed this dogg much,
yt might have cost us all our
sent our jurebasso to
lives. I
Japan and China, is more than all the rest, and seemeth
offered only to the English. These mighty monarchies
abound with riches, are civilized peaceably to respond with
all. Their clothing is silk, passable in summer, but in
winter they are forced to bombast or wear ten coats one over
the other," Considerations concerning the trade to China
"
were to be our next step." The factors then recommended
"
the Court of Directors to providefor presents
European toys
to these princes to procure rarities that others have not, to
176
" "
THE JAPANESE DOGS
"
East by the Company grow faint and die for want of fresh
water and too much salt meat aboard, fresh oaten meal or
ground barley is the only food for dogs, and a chain and
comely collar to grace them ought ever to be remembered.
A Turkey cock and hen given by Capt. Moreton were so
' '
much admired that a sleight Chinaman to make a friend
by presenting them, would willingly buy the like at 100 ryalls
of eight." *
"
SirRutherford Alcock's opinion that the Merry
Monarch " was indebted to his marriage with a Portuguese
princess (and thence possibly to Japan) for the race of
spaniels called after him would appear to have consider-
able justification, for it appears not unlikely that even if the
M 177
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
always included. Why these should have been selected, and
what they particularly symbolize, he did not learn. The
charcoal was not omitted in the gifts on this occasion, and
four small dogs of a rare breed were sent to the President as
part of the Emperor's gift. We
have observed also in the
public prints that two were put on board Admiral Stirling's
ship for Her Majesty of England. The fact that dogs are
always part of a royal Japanese present suggested to the
Commodore the thought that one species of spaniel now in
England may be traced to a Japanese origin. In 1613, when
Captain Saris returned from Japan to England, he carried to
the King from the Emperor, and presents in return
a letter
for those which had been sent to him by His Majesty of
178
" "
THE JAPANESE DOGS
everything rare and fetching a large sum of money, the
Japanese lap-dog was said to come from Miaco. Full-grown
specimens might sometimes be seen scarcely exceeding seven
or eight inches in length. The diminutive size was secured
by cross-breeding, and, according to some, by draughts
of saki.*
In recent times, arrival of the Japanese breed of dog, so far
as is borne out by authentic records, antedates the Pekingese
race as to importation into England by at least a decade.
The record of shows demonstrates that nine " Japanese "
were classed in a show held in the Holborn Horse Repository
in i862.f
179
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
the Japanese, and are dwarfed, it is said, by the use of saki
*
a spirit to which their owners are particularly partial."
"
Idstone, writing in 1872, states that Originally the
King Charles was a liver-and-white dog." He thought the
breed originated in Japan, and said that the first imported
Japanese were pale yellow and white. He also thinks that
the Blenheim comes from Japan through Spain.
Mrs. Hugh Fraser states that there are two kinds of lap-
dog in Japan one, the Chin dog above mentioned, which
:
"
she refers to as a degenerate King Charles, and a smooth,
rather bald beast with spots, both kinds having prominent
eyes." f
* " Visits to
Japan and China," by Robert Fortune, pp. 96-98.
"
f A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan," by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, p. 119.
1 80
CHAPTER XII
To -fact {>.
THE CHINESE LION DOG
previously. A similar breed exists in Shantung, but there
are two varieties of the Shantung lion-dog, one of lap-dog
size, evidently referred to by Dr. Lockhart in 1867 when he
"
wrote, From Shantung is brought a beautiful black, long-
haired, long-backed, long-legged terrier, very much like a
black Skye," * and the other shock-greyhound similar in all
respects to the European greyhound, except for its shaggy
"
coat. Lauferf quotes from the Annals of Shantung
"
Province," There are various kinds of dogs. There are the
barking dogs with short muzzle and thin legs, excellent
hunters. There are the edible dogs with fat body, which are
served as food and reared in large numbers. There is a kind
from the Western Foreign [country], low, small, clean and
'
"
J How the breed came to be produced or originated
:
dog.'
in Thibet impossible even to conjecture. As the
it is
The first known use of the term " lion-dog " appears to
* Proc. Zool.
Soc,, 1867.
t " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," p. 267.
j Book XXIV, section on Products, p. 6b.
183
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
refer to aspecimen which was probably considerably larger
than the Tibetan breed, but which, from the proximity of
Northern Kiangsu to Shantung, may have belonged to the
" "
race of lion-dogs of both large and small species, now
found in the latter province.
In the year A.D. 1131, under the rule of the Emperor Kan
Tsung of the Southern Sung Dynasty, there lived near
Hsuchow, in Kiangsu, a magistrate, Dei Yen Cheng, to
whose judgment was submitted the following case, having
points in common with that in which Richard Macaire was
brought to justice by the dog of Aubry of Montdidier, and
with Plutarch's story of Capparus, watchdog of the temple
of /Esculapius at Athens.
"
In a lonely temple twenty li from the city dwelt a priest
and his one servant. He had two pets : a cat, upon which
he lavished much and a dog which was well-known on
care,
"
account of its being a lion-dog." It happened one day
that, during the absence of the servant, who had been sent
to buy salt, the temple was entered by a robber, who
murdered the priest and got away. He was silently followed
by the dog to his retreat whence, after two days, he made
for the city, followed by the dog. Upon reaching a
still
184
THE CHINESE LION DOG
"
It is interesting to note that the West too had its lion-
lion, the hinder part growing short hair only. The breed
existed in England as early as 1615,* but certain characteristics
were artificially read in the Proceedings
imparted to it, for we
"
of the Zoological Society, Some of the figured and named
"
varieties, as the Lion-Dog (" Chien-lion," Buffon) Canis ;
the coat. Two characters occur in the " Chou Keng Lu " (Yuan Dynasty), and
also in the " Pen Tsao Rang No " (Ming Dynasty). " The lion is
tawny (lit.
" nao The same authority says
'
"
called 'nao dogs.'
I8 5
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
'
Hu '
'
haired among them are designated
'
monkey-lion dogs
(*nao,' a long-haired yellow monkey). The people of the
' " *
locality call it shih kou.' mmg
It is to be noted that none but a literary or artistic Chinese
" "
would the ordinary
call Pekingese or the short-coated
"
pug by the name lion-dog." This confusion of names is
similar to that which exists in England in relation to the
" "
Happa dog a name which to a Chinese
generic and is
187
CHAPTER XIII
180
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
their breeds, and consequently they caused scrolls portraying
large numbers of dogs to be painted. Unfortunately, the
painting talent upon which they could draw was limited, so
that the results cannot compare with those which would be
obtained if, for instance, British painters were commissioned
to portray a similar number of specimens to be found in
1
Huan Tien Hsi Ti."
(" Love Heaven Joy Earth.")
191
DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN
This antithetical couplet is figured by butterflies flitting
above children playing with cicadas or dogs.
A picture of children flying a butterfly-kite is also used to
"
symbolize joy below united with the much-loved wind-
" "
harp above. The wish of the sender is, May the happiness
of heaven and the joy of earth give you their united blessings."
" "
Another illustration is that of a Pekingese dog looking
up at butterflies above him. The dog is here
floating
symbolical of joyful affection, and the butterfly of heavenly
bliss.
A wish for united blessedness also exists, for the first half
" "
of the Chinese character for the word pigeon introduces
" " " '
the connotation fit or appropriate in the sense of
"
well-matched."
Shortly before 1891 the Empress Dowager's chief eunuch,
" "
Yin Liu by name, lost his three favourite Pekingese dogs
by a fire which destroyed the house in which they were kept.
These dogs were named, Sung To (" pine cone "), a black
and white dog Chu Yeh (" bamboo leaf "), a red and white
;
or yellow and white dog; and Mei Hua (" plum flower").
194
PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLE (TAI
FROM PEKING SHIH, SHAOSHIH). TAOKUANG
SHIH-TZU KUN HSIU CHIU. PERIOD
LION ROLLS EMBROIDERED BALL
ship remain as full of life as the pine, the bamboo, and the
plum-tree."
195
INDEX
A-CHEE, ceremony of, 27 Batavia, 176
"
Acheen, king of, 74, 75 Bell, Travels in Asia," 141 note
Adams, Will, 174, 175 Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint, 38
Aigun, dogs of, 149 and note Beyamini, 79 . .
197
INDEX
"' "
Budge, Wallis, The Gods of the Chin Ssu Ha-pah," 160, 161
Egyptians," 94, 113 Chin Te Chen potteries, 188
Buffalo stories, 105-107 China, domestication of the dog in,
"
Buffon, Histoire Naturelle," 71, 150, 4-7 foreign policy influenced by
;
Burial ceremonies, the dog in, 78, 79 Buddhism established in, 96, 97 ;
"
Bushell, Chinese Art," 90, 128 lion-masques, 115, 116 ;
division
Byzantine Empire, China and the, 128, and reunion of the dynasties,
146 124, 125 silk
; of, 128
trade ;
198
INDEX
Conger, Mrs., dogs presented to, 153 Dog-markets in Peking, 153, 154
Constantinople, 128 capture by the
; Dog-markings, Chinese superstitions
Turks, 146 regarding, 47-49
Cooper, Mr., cited, 80 Dog-sacrifices, 29, 32 note, 78
"
Copper period, dog superstitions, 78 Dog-whipper," office of, 49
Corea, hawking introduced from, 2 ; Dog-worship in Egypt, n, 12, 117
use of dog's flesh, 24 ; the tiger Dogs, Isle of, 45, 49 "
in, 90 ; the dog of, 117 home of ; Doolittle, Rev. Justus, Social Life
the ethereal lion, 119; dogs sent of the Chinese," 35
"
to Japan from, 172 Dragon-Tiger Soup," 28
"
Corean dogs," 118 Drummond, Henry, 178
" Corean
purify heart pill," 119 Dudley, Robert, Duke of Northumber-
Corpse-eating dogs, 87 land, dogs of, 65
Coxinga, pirate, 166 Dunne, Capt., 152
Crested Chinese dogs, 71 Dutch East India Company, 30, 139, 174
Duzaka, the, 36
" 165
Cross-breeding, 164,
Cunningham, A., Ladak," 77 note "
Cybele, 113 EARS of the Pekingese," 158
East India Company, trade with Japan,
DAIMIO of Hirado, 74, 175 46, 174-176, 178 export of dogs
;
"
Dalziel, British
Dogs," 85 through, 74, 81-83
"
Das, Sarat Chandra, dogs mentioned Eckl, Herr B., Sacristy," 112
by, 85-89 Eclipse, Chinese superstitions regard-
Daubenton, quoted, 150, 151 32-34
ing,
"
Davies, Guide to Heraldry," 108 note Egypt, dog-worship in, n, 12 hair- ;
"
Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, Cave Hunt- less dogs of, 71 ; lion-worship in,
86 ;
included in imperial presents, China, 139
177-179 Erh Lang, the God, legends of, 32 ;
Dog-books, imperial, 52, 152, 163 dog-worship in temple of, 35-37
Dog-breeding, political importance of,
"
Erh Ya " quoted, 7, 16, 64, 76
in mediaeval times, 47-49 methods ; Esquimaux, sledge dogs of the, 71
of development, 53, 54 com-; Ethiopia, dog- worship in, 12
mercial, 54, 55 ; forbidden in pre- Eunuchs, dog-breeding by, 164, 165
cincts of Imperial ancestral temple, Europe, dog-breeding in mediaeval times,
138, 139 46, 47 ; lion-dog of, 185, 186
I
99
INDEX
FALCONRY, in Europe, 62 ;
in China, Goa, capture of, 173
62, 64, 68 ;
in Japan, 64 Goldfish, Chinese breeding, 52
Faust, 40 Goshawk, use of the, 66, 68
Fei Ti, 18, 19 Gray, Dr. J. "E., cited, 54, 185
Feng Shui, practice of, 40, 47, 90, 162 Gray, J. H., China," 26, 27, 33, 34, 42
Fennel, on the King Charles Spaniel, Great Britain, trade with Japan, 174-
cited, 177 !?6
"
Fenollosa, Epochs in Chinese and Greece, the lion in, 95
Japanese Art," 125 Greek art in China, 97, 98, 112
Fernam Mendez Pinto, 20 Greeks, dog-worship by the, 1 1
Fleming, Abraham, 69 note, 145 Greenwich Palace, 45, 49
Firando, English factory at, 174-176 Gregory XIII., Pope, 173
Fire-worship, the lion associated with, Greyhound, the, in China, 72-75 ;
2OO
INDEX
Hawk-training, Chinese and Japanese Hunting, Chinese, with dogs, 8, 9, 15,
methods, 62 50; description of an imperial hunt,
Hay, Lord John, 152 93 under the Manchus, 148, 149
;
201
INDEX
Jung, the, 6 note, 183 ;
on wolf-origin of some
Juvenal, 34 Chinese dogs, 6-8 on the ha-pa
;
LAMA, the Dalai, 118, 148 first Chinese mention 144 of, ;
Lama, the Grand, 97 the Teshoo, ; 83, first known use of term, 183, 184 ;
dog, it, 12, 125, 128, 129 55 ; sledge dogs of, 70 ; wolf-
Malta, 144 hounds of, 75, 76 mastiffs, ; 81, 85
"
Maltese type of dog, 125, 129, 143-146 ; Mongrel cur," the, 168
Daubenton on, 150 Montmorency, 45
Man Chu Hsi Li, name applied to the Moo-Tan, dog, 153
Manchu emperors, 148 Moreton, Capt., 177
Manchu emperors, love of the hunt, Mtesa, King of Uganda, 103
"
148, 149 ; wearing of pearls by, Miiller, Max, Laws of Manu," 28,
162 ; Tibetan presents of dogs to, 29 3 6 37 >
203
INDEX
" with the hawk,
Old Buddha," 53, 152 Pheasants, taking of,
"
Oppian, Cynegetica," 51 66, 68 ; Mongolian, 69
Ordeal, trial by, Chinese customs, 21, 22 Phoenix, 47
Pi Hsiao Li, eunuch, 153
PA-RH P'i ngan, the, 7
" dogs, 149
note, 150
"
Pai dog, the, 17, 123, 130, 131, 143, Pigeon breeding, 47, 52, 194
"
147 ; popularity in A.D. 794, 173 Pinkerton, Voyages," 71 note, 141
Pai Kuong-fa, Abbot, vii. note
Palestine, superstition in, 40, 41 Ping Yang, 126, 127
Pao Ch'eng, stories by, 104 Pobrang, 83
Parsee rites, the dog in, 12, 49 Pointer, the British, 51
Parti-colours, points of appreciation, Polo, Marco, cited, 41 note, 50, 51, 59,
161-164 60, 63, 79, 80, 92, 134 ; description
Partridges, netting of, 68 of an Imperial hunt, 93
Pearls, Chinese custom of wearing, 162 Polygamy, 192
"
Pease, Sir A., The Book of the Lion," Pomeranian type, 144
"
95. "2 Pope, Alexander, The Indian and his
Pechili, cats of, 141 Dog," 38
"
Peiching Kou," term, 142 Porcelain, Tao Kung period, 159 ;
"Pei Wai Chai Shu Hua P'u," 134 paintings on, 188, 191
note Portugal, trade with China, 139 pugs ;
Pei Wen Yun Fu, 17 from, 166, 167 ; trade with Japan,
Peking, sale of dog-flesh in, 27 ; the *73. !74.
Hatamen, 32 ; the temple of Erh Portuguese, lions possessed by the, 92
Lang, 35-37 ; national museum, Poutiatini, C., 3, 4
58 ; Lama
temple, 100 ; the Poutiatini, Prince, 3
Kung Fu, 106 ; cats of, 141 ; Pratt on the Tibetan mastiff, cited, 81
" "
capture by the Manchus, 147, 148 ; Prince mark, 170
siege of, 170 ; visits of the Dalai Pug, the Chinese, 147 ; early intro-
Lama, 181, 182 duction into Europe, 166, 167;
Peking Chien Men, the, 106 possible origin in Szechuan, 170
Pekingese dog, the, breeding, 52 ; leg Pug, the English, Chinese origin, 133 ;
204
INDEX
Roch, St., dog of, 38 "
Shuowen, dogs of, 8
"
Rockhill, Life of Buddha," 81 and Shuo wen," the, quoted, 7
note Sieber, Max, 10 note
Roe, Sir John, 82 Silk pictures, 188
"
Rolleston, Prof., Scientific Papers," i Silk trade, Chinese 124, 128
Romans, the,
dog-worship, ; dog- n Sinkiang trade route, 91
"
flesh eaten by, 23, 24 use of the ; Siring," 85
dog in the chase, 51 Sirius, n, 12
Romero, Julian, 167 Sledge dogs, Chinese, 70, 71
"
Russia, pugs from, 169 Sleeve-dogs," 149 and note-i$z, 165
Sluys, 73
"
SADDAR, cited, 6 Smith, Vincent A., Asoka," 95, 96
Saki, use of, 179, 180 Snuff-bottle, vogue of the, 151, 191-193,
Salmon-fishing, use of the dog, 71 *95
Salvatico, Francisco, 73, 74 Soopoon Choomboo,
" 99
Samye monastery, Tibet, 40 Sorreze, J., Roman de Leonardo da
San Kuo Tien Lueh, 126 Vinci," 137
Saris, Captain, cited, 46, 47, 64, 74, Southward beer garden, 46
"
175. 78 J Sowerby, Journal," 6
Sash, the, customs regarding, 163 Spain, dogs from, 65 ; trade with
Scent in dogs, development, 51, 58, 65 China, 139
Schrader, cited, 62 Spaniel, development of the, 65 ;
the
Scott, Sir Walter, 40 modern Japanese, 147. See also
Scripture, references to the lion, 1 1 1 King Charles Spaniel
Scythians, 119 Sparrowhawks,
"
66, 67
Shadza, dog, 153 Spectacles," breeding of, 162, 163
"
Shakespeare, non-mention of tobacco, Speke, Travels to the Sources of the
1 6 ; quoted, 41 Nile," 103
"
Shan hai king," quoted, 8 Spirit-lion, the, 97, 98 ; monuments,
Shang, Books of, cited, 9 149
Shansi, province of, 16 dogs of, 123,
; Spiti, wolves of, 7
1 68 Sporting dogs, ancient Chinese, 5658
" "
Shantung, dogs of, 14 ; dog-flesh from, Square dogs, 9, 143
27 ; lion figures, 104 ; lion-dog of, Srong-tsan-gampo of Tibet, 181
183, 184 Ssuchuan, dogs of, 130, 131, 133, 134,
"
Shaw, V., The Book of the Dog," 169 " 170
Shen Chen Lin, paintings of, 189, 190 Ssu-ma-Ch'ien," 8, 10
Shen Heng Chi, dog of, 135 Stambul, 128
Shensi, greyhound of, 75 ; lion-pillars Stirling, Admiral, 178
"
of, 95 Stop," the, first European reference
Shi Chi, 14 note to, 146
"
Shih King," the, quoted, 7, 63 Strabo, cited, 87 note
"
Shih," meaning of term, 103 Street-dogs of Japan, 25, 26, 30, 31
"
Shih-tsu-Pa-Erh dogs, 52, 149 note Strutt, Joseph, Sports and Pastimes
Shinra, king of, 118 of the People of England," 64
Shintoism, 117; the lion in, 118; Stunting of dogs, discouraged, 152
sun-worship, 120 note Suinin, Emperor, 79
Shock dogs, 145, 150, 181, 182 Sunbeam, the, 170
" "
Short dogs, 143 Sun-dog, the term, 120 note
" "
Short-mouthed dogs, 168 Sun-myths, 116, 117, 120
Shot-gun, use, 58, 59 Sun-worship, the lion associated with,
"Shuah Shih-tzu," 116 119-121
205
INDEX
Sung dynasty, dogs of the, 49, 132 Tsai-kou, the, 5
"
Sung Yun, pilgrim, 92 Tso Chuan," the, quoted, 6
Sweden, heraldic lions of, 116 T'u Shu Chi Ch'eng, 14 note
"
Sybarites, 144 Tung K'ao," quoted, 18
T'ung T'ien Bai, 162
TABLES, Chinese, height of, 130 Tungus, the, use of dogs' flesh, 22
T'ai Tsung, Emperor, dog of, 128, Turfan, 63
132, 133. '53 Turkestan, falconry in, 62,
Takatoki, Emperor, 17 Turks, dogs of the, 7, 8 presents of
;
Tang dynasty, imperial dogs, 49 toy ; dogs accepted by the, 125, 126
dogs, 125, 129-131 historical
; Turner, Capt. Sam, on Tibetan lore,
references to pet dogs, 127, 128 98,99
T'ang, Emperor, decrees of, 8, 9 Tzu Hsi, See Empress Dowager
Tao Kuang, Emperor, pigeons of, 194
Tao Kuang period, dogs of the, vii., UCHENG, lion-worship at, 106
52, 149 ; porcelains, 159 docking ;
Unicorn, the, in
of tails, 165
Urbino, Duke of, 44
Tartar dogs, 70, 71
Ussuri, 70
Tartar invasion of China, 124, 125
Tatsienlu, mastiffs of, 81
Tengeranus, C., 3
VAMBRY, quoted, 7
Teshu Lama, the, 83, 99 note Venice, presents of dogs from, 125
"
Victoria, Bishop of, Ten Weeks in
Thomas, St., of, 102
" Story Japan," 178, 179
Thunberg, Japon," 31 note " "
Ti barbarians, dogs of the, 6, 8 Victoria, Queen, Pekingese pre-
sented to, 152
Tibet, wolves of, 7 founding of, 10 ;
;
lama beliefs concerning dogs, 39, Vinci, Leonardo da, the Monna Lisa,
Yang, 28 84
Yang Ti, Emperor, 125, 127
Yi Chou Shu, 1 1 ZAPUNTELLO, 129, 144 and note
Yin Liu, eunuch, 194, 195 Zend Avesta, reference to the, 6, 12-14,
HOME USE
GENERAL LIBRARY -
U.C.
BERKELEY
B000208778